| Salt Lake City |
 |
 |
| GER |
12 |
16 |
7 |
35 |
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| USA |
10 |
13 |
11 |
34 |
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| NOR |
11 |
7 |
6 |
24 |
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| CAN |
6 |
3 |
8 |
17 |
|
| RUS |
6 |
6 |
4 |
16 |
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| 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 |
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Welch gets 'thank-yous' for efforts to win Games
He and family have seen one or 2 events a day
By Lisa Riley Roche
Deseret News staff writer
When Tom Welch and his family took their seats at Rice-Eccles Stadium for the opening ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Games, other spectators nearby stood and clapped.
But the man who led the effort to bring the Olympics to Utah won't return to the University of Utah stadium for Sunday's closing ceremonies.
"I don't want to cry in public," Welch told the Deseret News Wednesday during a visit to the Gateway with his family.
Whatever tears Welch sheds over the ending of Salt Lake's Games will be while watching the ceremonies on television with them in his Park City condominium.
"Maybe they're tears of joy, or maybe they're mixed," Welch said. "But it's the closing of a significant chapter in my life and the life of my family. So I want to share it with them."
Since arriving in Utah shortly before the Feb. 8 start of the Games, Welch has taken his family to one or two events a day. They were on their way to short-track speedskating Wednesday.
"I didn't know how it was going to be," said Chris Welch, Tom Welch's 23-year-old son, a U. finance major. "I was excited for the Olympics to come, but I didn't know how people were going to react."
But just about everywhere the family has gone, someone has stopped Welch to thank him. Some add that they believe he did nothing wrong despite the federal charges in connection with the Olympic bid scandal that still hang over his head.
Even on a drizzly afternoon at The Gateway, about a dozen people came up to Welch in less than 30 minutes to shake his hand, pose for a picture or say thank you.
"He started it and he probably hasn't gotten enough pats on the back," DeNae Anderson of Eagle Mountain said after recognizing Welch.
Welch spent more than a decade pursuing his Olympic dream, first as the head of the bid effort and later as the president of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee.
He stepped down from SLOC in 1997 after a police report filed on an altercation with his first wife, Alma, became public. He later pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of spouse abuse.
Welch, who remarried and moved to Southern California, returned to the headlines when allegations surfaced that he and former SLOC vice president Dave Johnson tried to buy the votes of International Olympic Committee members who decided which city would host the 2002 Winter Games.
The pair faced federal conspiracy, racketeering and fraud charges in connection with the more than $1 million in cash and gifts handed out during Salt Lake's bid for the Games. The charges were dismissed in U.S. District Court, but an appeal by federal prosecutors is pending.
Welch and Johnson both maintain they did nothing wrong. Some of their friends have pushed unsuccessfully for their names to be added to the "Wall of Honor" for Olympic contributors at the Gateway.
Welch said Wednesday he'd just as soon not visit the display at the north end of the shopping complex.
"I'm not sure I see the relevance of it," Welch said, just before being approached again by a well wisher.
After hearing "Great Games" from Noah Ramirez of Park City, Welch said the attention at times has taken a bit of an emotional toll.
"I've been gone a long time. For them to still remember when the Games are here is pretty special," Welch said.
"When we went to the opening ceremonies and had the kids with us, people on both sides of the aisle stood and applauded. That was touching to me, but it was more touching to the kids," he said.
Daughter Lindsay, 27, a law school graduate, said the reaction to her father has made the Games a more positive experience than she expected.
"It's good to see how much my dad loves the Games," she said. "The best thing is to see how much people have love having the Olympics here."
E-MAIL: lisa@desnews.com
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February 21, 2002
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