Scandal still dominated news about the Olympics

This was supposed to be the year that the Olympics were once again about sports instead of scandal. And for a few weeks last summer, Sydney's success did distract the world from Salt Lake's struggles.

Thanks to a carefree and sometimes campy Australian atmosphere, Sydney's 2000 Summer Olympics earned the "best-ever Games" proclamation from IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch that Atlanta futilely sought in 1996.

Sydney brought everlasting highlights such as U.S. Greco-Roman wrestler Rulon Gardner, a first-ever gold medal for an American baseball team, a five-medal haul by track sensation Marion Jones and host-country heroics from sprinter Cathy Freeman and swimmer Ian Thorpe.

Still, it was the scandal surrounding the Salt Lake bid for the 2002 Winter Games that dominated Olympic news in 2000, with the filing of criminal charges against the two men who led the multimillion-dollar campaign.

Tom Welch and Dave Johnson were indicted in federal court in June on felony counts of conspiracy, racketeering and fraud in connection with more than $1 million in cash and gifts that went to members of the International Olympic Committee.

Their case attracted the attention of Hollywood. A pair of screenwriters working for the Fox network's FX cable channel have been talking to locals in preparation for a made-for-TV movie anticipated to air just before the Games.

For their part, the two former bid leaders have vowed to fight the charges and threatened to bring down government officials and others who knew what was being done to woo the votes of IOC members for Salt Lake City.

That's worried some members of the IOC enough that they've canceled two meetings scheduled in Salt Lake City. The latest was set for next February but was quietly moved to Senegal, an African nation that's about as far away as they could get from Utah.

Grumbling about Salt Lake City and the scandal has become commonplace at IOC meetings. The most recent attacks came during an IOC session in Sydney when members suggested they might not show in 2002.

They complained that the Salt Lake Organizing Committee was releasing incriminating bid documents, such as the infamous memo where the word "geld," which means money in several languages, appeared next to the names of several IOC members.

The latest batch of bid files were released this month. The seven boxes of documents appear to contain no new revelations but have managed to revive allegations of bribery and corruption in the bid process.

But not all of the Olympic news was bad for Utahns this year.

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