The American Red Cross first aid station and disaster relief workers are asking for 500 volunteers to help out during the Salt Lake 2002 Winter Games, especially evenings between 5 p.m. and 1 a.m. Red Cross volunteers won’t be a part of public safety or medical crews operating inside the Olympics venues, but workers may be asked to help out at the torch run, the medals plaza and during other outdoor events. Medical professionals not already recruited by official Olympics organizers, are being asked to donate their time at first aid stations.
A coalition of Utah health experts have affiliated their anti-drug abuse message with the Salt Lake Organizing Committee by launching a pre-Olympics wellness campaign to reduce tobacco and alcohol consumption in non-athletes. The “Healthy Behaviors Tracker” program is a four-week monitoring system that participants can fill out themselves or with their doctor to chart—on a single-page SLOC form—how many times they perform relaxing tasks or engage in fitness activities. Once completed, trackers can mail in a completed behaviour form, along with $4 for an Olympics pin as part of the “Healthier You 2002” program leading up to the Games.
The Salt Lake Tribune reported that a memo, written by the Utah state accountant and warning of serious risks to the state government posed by the Salt Lake City Olympic Games, was ordered shredded, deleted from his computer and rewritten. Utah Governor Mike Leavitt denied directing the shredding of the budget memo, conflicting with a statement by state budget director Lynne Ward, who had previously said she and the governor agreed the 1998 memo should be shredded and erased. Five hours after Leavitt’s denial, his office “clarified” that he had agreed in advance to the shredding–but did not order it. The governor’s spokeswoman said it was an imporant distinction.
Olympic organizers and the LDS Church are re-evaluating the church’s contributions to the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Games. Mitt Romney, head of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, said he is conferring with community leaders, including prominent non-Mormons, to get a sense of what church assistance previously requested by SLOC is necessary for the success of the Games and what is not. Romney is responding to a June 8 letter from two church elders in which they said the church was willing to contribute to the Games “from a genuine desire to serve this community”. But because the extensive requests require the diversion of “precious financial and human resources”, the church elders asked Romney “to withdraw any items that they consider to be less than highly significant”.
Since Salt Lake’s oval, one of only three ovals in the world that makes ice in the summer, opened in March, the world’s athletes have been taking advantage of its drier conditions and lower humidity. There are Norwegians riding stationary bikes and the Japanese, Chinese, Germans, Austrians, Swiss, Dutch, Ukranians, Finns, Slovenians and French have set training dates there. Many others are signing up. And the Canadian ski jumpers are flying off the jump on the side of the mountain slopes about a 40-minute drive from downtown Salt Lake City.
And finally, construction work near the planned Olympic rowing site in Schinias, 18 miles northeast of Athens, has uncovered an ancient grave and other antiquities. Environmental groups and archaeologists claim the Athens 2004 Olympic venue would endanger birds, fish and a rare species of pine and encroach on the site of the 490 B.C. battle of Marathon. Construction of a perimeter fence uncovered an ancient road, the grave and traces of two destroyed ancient graves. Archaeologists will continue research in the area. The Greek ministry said that the finds were located outside the area selected for the rowing centre. According to newspaper reports, pottery was found in a grave dating from the approximate time of the Battle of Marathon. The gravesite is 1.2 miles from the planned rowing centre.
