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Simple IOC president can expect the comforts of a college dorm
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- IOC president Jacques Rogge will throw in the plush towel at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Same for the crystal chandeliers, Oriental rugs and marble floors. His plan to bed down at the Olympic village next February instead of a swanky downtown hotel, though, has created an unexpected nuisance for Olympic officials at IOC headquarters in Switzerland and at the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. Rogge will stay in a University of Utah dormitory room or a modernized officer's home at the old Fort Douglas military base. On its face the move sounds rosy. With his squeaky-clean image and simple needs, Rogge's populist approach makes the high-society IOC seem firmly committed to reforms enacted after the Salt Lake bid scandal. But during a visit to Salt Lake City last week, IOC director general Francois Carrard expressed concern about the contrast between Rogge's living quarters and those of former IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch, whose lavish hotel suites reportedly cost more than $1,000 a night. Carrard said Samaranch, like Rogge, is a simple man. Carrard blamed hosts in cities that Samaranch visited during his 21-year tenure as IOC president for leaving expensive gifts in first-rate hotel rooms. "The problem is that people receiving the IOC president want to be nice," Carrard said. "It is true that it becomes embarrassing to refuse." As for SLOC president Mitt Romney, his staff scrambled to devise a housing plan for Rogge. Other IOC delegates and officials will stay downtown at the organization's hotel, the 17-story Little America. One month after Rogge's request, SLOC officials are wrangling with logistical issues and don't know exactly where he will sleep. Compounding the problem, Rogge needs an adjacent room with a desk and telephone and he'll be attending IOC functions around town. Romney joked that Rogge, with his busy schedule, might keep weary athletes awake. "We don't want him accessible to the media, so we won't be putting him near a fence," Romney said. "We want him to get in and out easily. We don't want to have a meeting held up for 30 minutes because he's trying to get through a chokepoint in the village." SLOC officials have indicated they might save a hotel room for Rogge in case he can't return to the village for some reason. Rogge doesn't care where he stays, as long as it's in the village. During his visit to the dorms, he sat on a bed, looked at the bare white walls of the 18-square-meter (200-square-foot) room and broke into a big smile. "This is all that I need," he said. "Nothing more." The dorm has nothing more than what a college student needs. It's cozy, with a twin-sized mattress, oak-veneer furniture, close-cropped industrial-style carpet and a cramped closet barely big enough to stand inside. At the Little America's 162-square-meter (1,800-square-foot) presidential suite, the marble-walled bathroom is as big as the dorm room. It has a chandelier, a 1.5-by1.8-meter (5-by-6-foot) Roman tub, and sinks made of Italian marble. The suite, which costs $750 a night, also has a marble fireplace, molded ceilings, a wet bar, a kitchenette with a stove and refrigerator, a dressing room and vanity, a king-sized bed and sweeping city views from the balconies. The dorms won't have daily maid service, special meals or room service. But Rogge can catch a movie at the theater or work out at the fitness center. The village also will have a bank, a beauty salon, a post office, coffee shops, social halls and an Internet cafe, one of the most popular sites in the Olympic villages at Sydney and Nagano. At meals, the three-time Olympic sailor and five-time Belgian Olympic team leader will sit with athletes in the cafeteria. Rogge denied trying to send a political message by staying in the village. He insisted it's simply more fun. "It's an oasis of brotherhood and old cultures," he said. "The ethnic groups, the religions and the languages blend together. It is a fantastic atmosphere. I wanted to be there again. That's all."
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