Rogge ready

IOC President 'looking forward' to overseeing Games

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- IOC President Jacques Rogge arrived to oversee his first Olympic Games confident in U.S. security measures.

Rogge arrived at Salt Lake International Airport at 6:22 p.m. MDT and was whisked away to the Little America hotel.

"The IOC is very happy about the level of preparations, and we are looking forward to excellent Games," Rogge said.

He will check into the athlete's Olympic Village the night before the Feb. 8 Opening Ceremonies.

"It's the best place in town," he said. "I had the privilege to be at the village as an athlete. It's a wonderful place, a place where you have athletes of all countries, all religions, all ethnic origins, languages and cultures coming together in a fantastic atmosphere."

Rogge was an Olympic sailor and the head of his Belgian Olympic team before becoming a member of the International Olympic Committee. Rogge was elected president of the IOC last summer, succeeding Juan Antonio Samaranch, who also is expected in Salt Lake City within the week.

Rogge said he has been assured by organizers and U.S. officials that the games will be as safe from terrorism "as is humanly possible."

Rogge had little reaction to the U.S. Justice Department's appeal last week of a decision that threw out the Olympic bribery charges against two Salt Lake bid executives. The appeal guaranteed that the scandal will hang over the games.

"This is a matter for the American people," he said. "This is a matter for the Department of Justice. We do not want to comment on that."

Rogge was greeted by Fraser Bullock, SLOC's chief operating officer, who gave Rogge a purple Olympic jacket.

Rogge was accompanied by his wife Anne, marketing executive Michael Payne and other Olympic officials.

 

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