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Bribery scandal dulls Olympics' century-old shine
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| Salt Lake City bid officials are accused of bribing Olympic officials to win the 2002 Winter Games for the Utah city | |
(CNN) -- Salt Lake City may forever be remembered as the city that helped tarnish the golden halos of the Olympic Rings.
In late 1998, the unthinkable emerged, suddenly casting a pall over the world's beloved Games: allegations that International Olympic Committee members were bribed for their votes favoring Salt Lake City as the site of the 2002 Winter Olympics.
The lavish gifts offered by members of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee allegedly included cash, college scholarships, medical treatment, and trips to the Super Bowl, Disneyland, Las Vegas and other destinations.
Salt Lake City's unfettered urge to win the host city bid grew out of its loss of the 1998 Winter Olympics to Nagano, Japan, according to an ethics panel's report.
The bribery scandal broke in December, but could not be contained.
 The Olympic Probe |
Within weeks a wide net was cast to include close scrutiny of the bidding processes used to procure Games hosted by Nagano, Atlanta and Sydney, Australia, among other cities.
By January, an IOC investigation accused 13 Olympic officials of accepting bribes from Salt Lake City organizers. At least four IOC members were forced to resign, and the IOC said it would change the way it selected host cities.
Two top Salt Lake City Olympic committee officials -- President and CEO Frank Joklik and Vice President David Johnson -- were forced to step aside, and the committee underwent a sweeping reorganization.
Criminal probes were launched, too, including investigations by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Department of Justice.Long-time corporate sponsors of the Olympic Games -- including Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Visa, IBM, United Parcel Service and Eastman Kodak -- threatened to withdraw support if the IOC didn't reform.
And Olympic cities -- past and future -- scrambled to shore up their crumbling reputations:
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| Joklik, left, and Johnson | |
• In Sydney, host of the 2000 Summer Olympics, city Olympic officials announced a thorough investigation aimed at clearing Sydney's name.
• In Atlanta, the former head of the city's Olympic organizing committee admitted making a list of lavish gifts for IOC members, but says he never let the list become more than an idea.
• And in Nagano, the mayor was forced to defend a 1992 decision by the bidding committee to burn expense records from the city's successful bid for the 1998 Games.
"In Japan, that means it's all done and finished," Nagano Mayor Tasuku Tsukada told The Associated Press.
IOC officials, athletes and Olympic cities around the world hope the same can soon be said about the biggest scandal in the history of the Games.