The first IOC Games selection since the Salt Lake City
corruption scandal will take place tomorrow to select one of
six European cities "vying to stage" the 2006 Winter Games,
according to USA TODAY's Mike Dodd, who writes that the vote
"process will be more closely analyzed than the outcome."
Sion, Switzerland, "is considered the favorite" and Turin,
Italy, "is expected to be the other finalist." With the new
selection process, Dodd writes, "Already, it is clear the
IOC members are far less focused on the vote than usual, and
the election will be subdued and businesslike." Visits by
the competing cites are "banned" so the candidates "pumped
their resources into videotapes, slick publications and
public relations efforts" (USA TODAY, 6/18). In Boston,
John Powers reports that a special 15-member selection
college, including three athletes and two reps from the
winter sports federations and nat'l Olympic committees,
"will narrow" the field to two before the IOC "will choose
the victor." Turin bid committee Int'l Relations Dir Marco
San Pietro, on the selection process for the 2006 Games: "I
don't see any kind of gifts, any kind of bribes. Everything
is forbidden. You can't even give a pen." Powers adds that
"though Sion is the clear favorite," observers have been
"whispering about a possible anti-Swiss backlash" directed
at Swiss IOC member Marc Hodler (BOSTON GLOBE, 6/18).
ANGRY YOUNG MEN: In DC, Kevin Sullivan writes that
during yesterday's general session, IOC members "engaged in
a sharp series of finger-pointing, blame and denial for the
scandals" that resulted in the expulsion of 10 IOC members
earlier this year. Meanwhile, IOC member Mario Vazquez
Rana, a Mexican press exec, "launched a sarcastic and bitter
broadside against the United States" for the scandal
(WASHINGTON POST, 6/18). In UT, Lisa Riley Roche wrote that
SLOC officials were "enduring attacks [from the IOC] on
everything from the size of the Games' budget to the FBI's
criminal investigation." Vazquez Rana: "We will always have
been besmirched. I am sorry to say this is something that
comes from that wonderful country, the United States of
America." SLOC CEO Mitt Romney, after the meeting: "Wasn't
that a killer?" (DESERET NEWS, 6/17). Mike Dodd writes that
when the IOC opened its doors Thursday, "venom spewed out"
(USA TODAY, 6/18). In Chicago, Michael Lev: "If this were
the way business was always done at the Olympics, there
might never have been a scandal" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 6/18).
MORE QUESTIONS RAISED: IOC member Alex Gilady of Israel
"questioned the size" of the Salt Lake 2002 budget (DESERET
NEWS, 6/18). Hodler said that the SLOC is "hamstrung by a
number of very unfortunate contracts," citing the SLOC/USOC
joint-marketing deal: "That joint venture has a clause you
would hardly believe." Hodler noted a "provision capping
the cash" that the SLOC receives from national-level
sponsorships at about $250M (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 6/18).
