Salt lake games scandal

Almaty tried to win the vote, reminding that it was a winter sports city surrounded by mountains and natural snow.

It was a dig at Beijing, which has no winter sports tradition and little natural snow in the areas picked for skiing. Beijing and some IOC members countered that skiers actually prefer artificial snow. The IOC also saw Beijing as a huge winter-sports business opportunity. Beijing won by four votes, which was described as much closer than expected, in a second attempt using paper ballots.

A first attempt at electronic voting was scrapped citing technical issues. IOC members chose what they believed to be the less risky option, which has not turned out that way. The IOC choice was sharply criticized at the time by human rights groups, which noted that the Olympics had not improved rights' conditions in China. Getting down to two candidates — neither the top choices — shocked the IOC. It was part of the reason that the IOC no longer goes through a long bid process to pick host cities.

Moreover, it was embarrassing for the IOC to explain why voters turned down holding the Olympics — particularly the smaller Winter Games. The bid process was also soiled by scandals surrounding the awarding of the and Summer Olympics, in which IOC member were allegedly bribed for their votes. The choice is made by the leadership headed by Bach. The IOC has already chosen venues for the Olympics through The only open slot is the Winter Olympics, in which Sapporo, Japan, seems to be the leading candidate.

The IOC has not indicated when that choice will be made. A British skier crashes through wooden fencing on a downhill corner and slams into a pole, breaking his leg. Jake Sanderson felt bad that he would be missing a handful of games at North Dakota to play at the Olympics. Figure Skating. Get the latest in your inbox! Sign up! Already a Subscriber?

Sign in. Terms of Service Privacy Policy. Back to homepage. Subscriber Login. Please subscribe to keep reading. You can cancel at any time. Edit Close. Become a Member. Read Today's E-edition. Log In. Even though it was a dominant theme during the Salt Lake City Games, an ongoing drama for days, the perception generally was that the French judge voted for the Russians that night under pressure from others.

The docuseries is the first time Le Gougne has spoken to American media, Lipinski says. They did a six-hour interview. Sadly, she even contemplated suicide. Lipinski and Kapostasy are hoping to do more projects with their May Fifth Productions. Not necessarily focusing on figure skating, although it is ripe with potential. At the same time, we can appreciate that this sport has evolved and has a new judging system.

We'll notify you here with news about. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? Even in this context, however, the Atlanta games represented a qualitative leap, with an unprecedented degree of corporate involvement in exploitation of the spectacle, and a crude display of American chauvinism. The IOC's decision in to award the games to another US city, only six years after the Summer Games in Los Angeles, raised questions at the time about the overpowering influence of the American media monopolies.

Dick Pound, the IOC member from Montreal who is heading the group's investigation of the Salt Lake City case, told the Canadian press that the open bribery of IOC members was first employed by Atlanta officials to displace Toronto, which had been the frontrunner to receive the games.

Marc Hodler suggested that Salt Lake City might not be able to fulfill its contract with the IOC to stage the games, because the bribery scandal would make it more difficult to raise the huge sums required. But top IOC officials reaffirmed the award of the Winter Games, and Salt Lake officials said they had raised 72 percent of needed funds already. The ultimate decision will be made, not by Olympic officials, but by corporate America.

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