A limited number of demonstrators will be allowed near the medals plaza during the Salt Lake 2002 Winter Games, but some activists say the city might not be prepared for a rowdy protest crowd. A plan to confine demonstrations to a park southwest of the fenced-off medals plaza drew a First Amendment lawsuit. Now city officials say there will be five pre-authorized protest zones during the Games, two of them inside the Olympic Square. Groups that want to demonstrate will sign up for a time slot and be issued a permit. In addition to the five protest zones, individual protest permits will be issued on a case-by-case basis for other areas. Small groups, such as two people handing out fliers on a street corner, wouldn’t need a permit at all. At least 2,000 people are expected to protest at the Games. One of the most vocal so far has been the Utah Animal Rights Coalition, which objects to a rodeo that will be part of the Cultural Olympiad, a companion event to the Games.
Chris Chelios, the captain of the U.S. Olympic hockey team, said that unlike what happened at the 1998 Nagano Olympics where U.S. players trashed three dorm rooms at the Olympic village hours after the team was eliminated by the Czech Republic, all the chairs at the Salt Lake Games will stay intact and no fire extinguishers will be tossed out. Chelios, a defenseman for the Detroit Red Wings, presented a $3,000 cheque to Japanese officials to pay for the damage.
The Utah Olympic Public Safety Command is training officers in case violent protesters take to the streets of Salt Lake City during the 2002 Winter Games, as they did in Seattle, Quebec City and Genoa. U.S. President George W. Bush, and Vice President Dick Cheney plan to take part in Olympic ceremonies. Also leaders from around the world may attend. The Utah National Guard will be ready for quick action if disaster strikes. Security leaders are also asking major U.S. Law enforcement agencies to spare as many officers as possible for the effort.
A series of four postcards, drawn by children depicting “the values of the heritage, the celebrations, the participation and the human scale” of the Olympic Games, will be available as part of a pilot program, in about 150 hotels, mainly in Athens and the tourist islands of Crete, Rhodes, Corfu and Mykonos. The designs, depicting sporting events and the Acropolis, were donated by the Museum of Greek Children’s Art, and the postcards will be provided free of charge. The project is promoting the virtues of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.
At a hastily arranged news conference following a front-page story in the Liberation newspaper that revealed that about 10 per cent of the medicines the French Olympic team took to the Sydney Games were banned for athletes, the team officials said the products were only on hand for emergencies and were never used by the athletes. Of the 580 types of drugs the French team brought to the Olympics, 57 are prohibited by the IOC and are considered doping products, the newspaper said. The products in question include 18 medicines that are banned outright, 36 that can only be used with special permission from the IOC, and three that can be used in limited doses. Of the 36 that need special permission, the team was given such permission on 12 occasions.
And finally, the Beijing Daily newspaper reports that at least 600 foreign companies said they intend to invest in Beijing following its successful bid for the 2008 Summer Games. The newspaper said foreign companies have contacted local government departments and institutions for investment opportunities, and are interested in infrastructure, high-tech and environmental protect projects. Most of the companies are from Europe, North America and Southeast Asian countries. A British company specializing in environmental protection and power is now negotiating with Beijing for a project involving 100 million U.S. dollars investment to build a power plant through burning garbage. Many large companies in the Republic of Korea have shown special interest in projects involving infrastructure, real estate and auto exhaust gas treatment, a priority for Beijing in its preparation for the Games. A delegation organized by a British-Chinese trade chamber, representing over 300 British companies, is scheduled to send their first group of companies to Beijing for business opportunities in the near future. And a group of companies from Hong Kong will also come to Beijing for the Beijing-Hong Kong Trade Fair in October.
