| Salt Lake City |
 |
 |
| GER |
12 |
16 |
7 |
35 |
 |
| USA |
10 |
13 |
11 |
34 |
|
| NOR |
11 |
7 |
6 |
24 |
|
| CAN |
6 |
3 |
8 |
17 |
|
| RUS |
6 |
6 |
4 |
16 |
|
| AUT |
2 |
4 |
10 |
16 |
|
| ITA |
4 |
4 |
4 |
12 |
|
| FRA |
4 |
5 |
2 |
11 |
|
| SUI |
3 |
2 |
6 |
11 |
|
| NED |
3 |
5 |
0 |
8 |
|
|
|
|
Halfway Home: Dare we say it's going great?
By Lisa Riley Roche
Deseret News staff writer
With eight days of competition left for the 2002 Winter Games — the halfway mark to Salt Lake City's Olympic finish line — there have been few wrinkles in security plans or sporting venue operations.
The so-called bribery scandal surrounding Salt Lake City's Olympic bid? History. Worries about a massive terrorist attack? No real problems have materialized.
To wit: Polls show Olympic visitors are hailing Salt Lake's Games, American athletes are performing well, and NBC's telecast is drawing a massive audience every night.
And the sole major controversy to surface in Salt Lake — allegations of collusion among figure skating judges — was resolved with dispatch by international Olympic officials.
Australian speedskater Mark McNee has seen two Olympic Games — the 2002 Winter Games and the wildly successful 2000 Summer Games in laid-back Sydney.
The major difference between the two? The heightened level of security, says McNee. Even the increased presence of armed soldiers ordered after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks against the United States didn't bother him.
"In Sydney, the security had to be there and not seen," McNee said. "Here, people want to see the security."
The deputy team leader for the Netherland Olympic delegation said Salt Lake's Games are near perfect.
"The most important thing, is the organizers are creative," Marcel Sturkenboom said, "I'd give them a nine."
Could the Games be going any better?
Not for Mary Faucheux of New Orleans and her two daughters, who were shopping in downtown Salt Lake City Friday between events. "We love it. It's been great. It's so well-organized," Faucheux said.
Her daughter, Misty, 23, said the family had trouble getting around during the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta.
"We hoped this one would run more smoothly," Misty Faucheux said. "Here the buses run great."
Transportation was just one of the problems that Atlanta faced during the last Olympics in the United States.
At this point during the 1996 Games, organizers were stuck with the label "Glitch Games." Visitors and reporters found troubles with transportation and technology.
As for Salt Lake's efforts thus far, U.S. Olympic Committee couldn't be more pleased.
"I can't think of what might have gone better," USOC President Sandy Baldwin said. Utahns should be pleased with how well they're doing, she said.
"Believe me, it was something I'd long hoped for, and I'd always believed the people of Utah would be thrilled with these Games once they got under way," Baldwin said. "They have every right to be proud with the way they're hosting the world."
Baldwin even credited the Salt Lake bid scandal with prodding the IOC to handle the skating controversy quickly. "I think the lessons of Salt Lake and the IOC's reforms asking for transparency have gone a long way to bring us where we are today," she said.
The mayor of Washington, D.C., one of four cities vying to be selected by the USOC as the American candidates for the 2012 Summer Games, said he was impressed with how smoothly everything is running here.
"They're doing a great job here," Mayor Anthony Williams told the Deseret News. "I'm amazed by the scope and magnitude."
Williams said that since his arrival Monday, he's been to several events and toured the security and Salt Lake Organizing Committee control centers. "Utahns are very, very nice people," he said. "I have been very impressed."
Beth White, head of the Main Media Center in the Salt Palace where some 9,000 journalists are working, is a little uncomfortable talking about SLOC's success so far.
"You don't like to say it," White said. "You can only hope it's going this well. I almost hate to comment on it."
Even the usually satirical host of NBC's "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" show seemed happy to be in Utah Friday.
On his way to shoot a snowboarding skit scheduled to be shown Sunday during NBC's Olympic coverage, O'Brien said he's skied in the state several times. "I love it here."
E-MAIL: lisa@desnews.com
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February 16, 2002
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