IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch predicted a "swift
end to excessive reactions and anger" over its choice of
Turin, Italy to host the 2006 Olympics, a selection "widely
seen as political retribution from the Salt Lake City gift-
giving scandal," according to Kevin Sullivan of the
WASHINGTON POST. Samaranch "defended the IOC's bid process
and selection" and added, "The IOC regrets the excessive
reactions of certain people but is sure the traditional
Swiss sense of calm will soon prevail once more" (WASHINGTON
POST, 6/21). USA TODAY's Mike Dodd, on the 53-36 vote: "The
final result of the election is perfectly acceptable; the
reason behind it is very troubling. ... Reform commissions
and ethics panels notwithstanding, the basic mind-set of the
rank-and-file hasn't changed." Dodd adds that many IOC
members "are back to their favorite pastime -- showing a
preoccupation with self-interest and petty politics over the
issues at hand." The USA, Australia and Switzerland were
"the targets" of criticism during the IOC Session (USA
TODAY, 6/21). In Toronto, Randy Starkman wrote that
choosing Turin "could have major repercussions for the IOC,
which has its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, where
it enjoys tax-exempt status and many other benefits." Swiss
Parliament Member and Sion bid member Dr. Bernard Comby:
"Parliament has some means to make some pressure on the
IOC." Sion bid Technical Dir Jean-Loup Chappelet "believed
there was an Arab bloc and a Latin American bloc that traded
off their votes in some kind of deal with Turin" (TORONTO
STAR, 6/20). Starkman writes that "life in Lausanne will
never be the same now" for Samaranch after the vote: "Who
could have imagined they could turn the prim and proper
Swiss into an angry formenting mob?" (TORONTO STAR, 6/21).
Police reported that "angry protestors had defaced a statue
in the Olympic museum's gardens in Lausanne" (WASHINGTON
POST, 6/20). But in Boston, Indira Lakshmanan reports that
Samaranch "has no plans to move himself or the headquarters"
out of Switzerland (BOSTON GLOBE, 6/21).
SION STIFFED? In N.Y., Sheryl WuDunn wrote that Turin
"was able to convince" the IOC with a $10M budget and a 350-
page bid book with videos, compact discs and other materials
(N.Y. TIMES, 6/19). In Boston, John Powers wrote that with
the vote, the IOC "was merely following its recent
preference for big cities over cozy hamlets. ... Turin
simply has many more hotel rooms and restaurants and better
overall transportation links than Sion" (BOSTON GLOBE,
6/20). In L.A., Alan Abrahamson noted the vote could have
been impacted by Swiss IOC member Marc Holder's criticism of
the IOC bid process and wrote it "makes clear that the full
impact of the Salt Lake scandal ... has yet to run its
course" (L.A. TIMES, 6/19). In UT, Mike Gorrell: "The
prevailing theory is that the IOC's secret ballot reflects
internal resentment against [Hodler]" (S.L. TRIBUNE, 6/20).
