Salt Lake gets vote of confidence
City viewed as 'victim' for alleged bribe for 2002 games
Posted: Monday December 14, 1998 10:28 AM
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Frank Joklik and the Salt Lake City organizers were moved by the support of the wintersports federations AP |
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) -- Salt Lake City Olympic organizers,
embroiled in a scandal over alleged bribes, received a vote of
confidence Monday in their preparations for the 2002 Winter Games.
Winter sports federations "unanimously and quite movingly
expressed their support" for the Salt Lake committee, organizing
chief Frank Joklik said.
"It was totally spontaneous and, to us, somewhat unexpected,"
Joklik said after a meeting with leaders of the seven sports on the
Winter Games program.
Among those praising the Salt Lake Organizing Committee (SLOC)
was Marc Hodler, the Swiss IOC member who has used the word
"bribe" to describe the controversial scholarship program
operated during Salt Lake's bid for the games.
The IOC has launched a high-level investigation into the
project, which provided nearly $400,000 in scholarships to 13
people, including six relatives of IOC members.
Joklik, who apologized Sunday for the
"embarrassment" caused
by the program, said the scandal did not taint Monday's meeting.
"There was no semblance of a cloud," he said. "There is a
sense of reality that the preparation for the games should go on."
Joklik said he was encouraged by IOC president Juan Antonio
Samaranch's statement that he believes that Salt Lake will put on
the best winter games ever.
"I think we can make it happen," Joklik said.
Meanwhile, Joklik confirmed that Salt Lake officials met for the
second time Sunday night with the IOC panel investigating the
scholarship fund.
IOC vice president Dick Pound, who is heading the inquiry, said
the two sides met for just over an hour. They had met for 90
minutes Friday night.
Pound said he hopes to complete the investigation before the end
of January.
"I'd like to have it out of the way so it doesn't impinge on
our doping congress in February," he said.
On Sunday, Joklik said, "With hindsight, I believe this program
should not have been part of the bid campaign," Joklik said. "I
apologize to the Olympic family and to the citizens of Utah for the
embarrassment caused by the bid committee program."
Joklik said he still supported giving academic aid and athletic
training to young people from developing countries.
"However, it should not be done in a way that might possibly
appear to influence improperly the voting of IOC members," he
said.
Samaranch said he was surprised and disappointed to learn of the
scholarships, but didn't regard them as grounds for taking the
games away from Salt Lake City.
"We trust the organizing committee of Salt Lake City," he
said.
Utah's largest health care provider, meanwhile, has said it gave
free surgical services in 1994 to at least two people associated
with the IOC, one a relative of a committee member and the other
possibly a committee member.
"We did this in a sincere effort, and in the spirit of being a
good community citizen," said Daron Cowley, spokesman for
Intermountain Health Care.
Cowley denied IHC did the free work to bolster its chances to
become primary medical provider for the 2002 Winter Olympics, which
it subsequently became.
Hodler described the scholarship fund as a bribe, but he didn't
blame the city.
"Salt Lake is a victim," Hodler said, adding that the bid
committee felt compelled to offer the scholarships rather than
collude with agents promising to deliver votes in exchange for
large cash payments.
Both Joklik and Pound said Salt Lake City won the bid on its own
merits, not because of the scholarships.
Pound said the IOC executive board expressed "complete, I
repeat complete, confidence" in the organizing committee.
"We'd like to put this behind us as quickly as possible," said
Robert Garf, chairman of the organizing committee. "We would not
like to be distracted. It's imperative that we don't fall behind in
the preparation of the games."
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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