Olympic organizers severed ties with a state travel agency accused of pushing the Mormon religion on visiting journalists. The Utah Travel Council denied the charge and blamed the Salt Lake Convention and Visitor’s Bureau for inviting Mormon church envoys to a state-sponsored reception last month for visiting media, while representatives from other faiths were not invited. For now, SLOC has stopped referring visiting journalists to the state’s travel council.
It’s not fair! Reagen Outdoor Advertising, Utah’s biggest billboard company, says Salt Lake City is giving Olympic-related businesses special treatment. Attorney Richard Rappaport wrote a letter to city planning director Stephen Goldsmith saying, “Olympic sponsors or other parties chosen by the Olympics could advertise during the Olympics while nobody else could. This prescreening of the content of commercial messages is unconstitutional”. New draft rules would allow the Salt Lake Organizng Committee to shrink-wrap buildings, scaffolding and fences with advertising during the Games, something forbidden by current city laws.
Attention Canada! Tickets for next year’s Salt Lake Games are now on sale in Canada. Ticket prices for the February 8-24 Games range from $50 to more than $1,500. Because of the risk of scalping, orders must include proof of residence. For information call 1-800-351-5999 or log on to www.olympicexperience.com.
It will still be possible to ski on Utah’s slopes during the 2002 Winter Games, but skiers might have to go through metal detectors to get there. Snowbasin, Deer Valley and Park City ski resorts will remain open during the Olympic downhill, snowboarding and aerial events. But a spokesman for the Utah Olympic Public Safety Command said there will be a heightened security. At Snowbasin, skiers will have to walk through metal detectors and at Deer Valley and Park City, skiers will use a different entrance than athletes and spectators. And at all the resorts, six to eight foot chain-link fencing will separate day skiers from Olympic athletes. At the Park City resort skiers will have to take park-and-ride shuttles to get there. Only four per cent of the resort will be used as a venue for the events. The other 96 per cent of the mountain will be used by skiers.
Salt Lake’s ability to run complex computer systems for the 2002 Games are on track, except for a glitch when smoke billowed from the starting gate’s electric motor during a World Cup snowboarding race recently. The system includes timing gates, electronic scoreboards, 4,500 computers, and network servers, and are all tied by 32,000 miles of fibre optic cable. European computer systems integrator Sema was expected to announce that it was satisfied with the first major test of the new Olympic timing and computer systems. Sema’ partners include Sun Microsystems, Japanese watchmaker Seiko, computer assembler Gateway Inc., Xerox and Internet service manager Ikano. Sema, a software and consulting firm, has been an IBM subcontractor since the 1992 Barcelona Games.
Athens International Airport, also known as Eleftherios Venizelos Airport after Greece’ most celebrated 20th century statesman, officially opened for business Wednesday, following its inaugeration. Ending decades of poor service and questionable security at the city’s old aerodrome, the new airport will be ready to welcome thousands of tourists arriving for the 2004 Summer Olympics. The new airport has 163 check-in counters, 11 baggage claim belts, 24 boarding bridges and a new shopping centre. It is designed to handle 220,000 tons of cargo a year and as many as 600 flights can be handled a day at a rate of 65 landing and take-offs an hour.
Great news. A marketing program for the 2004 Athens Games has been successful, with most sponsorship targets already surpassed, said the International Olympic Committee. Targets for television rights and the international top sponsorship program have already been exceeded, while between 75 per cent and 80 per cent of the target for national sponsorship has been achieved. The 10 international sponsors are Coca-Cola, Eastman Kodak, John Hancock, McDonalds, Panasonic, Samsung, Time/Sports Illustrated, Xerox, Visa, and Sema. National sponsors include Greece’s telecoms company, Athinaiki Breweries and Alpha Trust Bank, and Swatch will be the timing sponsor. The first shop to sell 2004 Olympics merchandise opened at Athen’s new airport on March 28. The shop will sell a variety of products including sportswear, badges, jewelry and household goods.
And finally, Olympic scandal files were released by the Utah attorney general’s office after The Associated Press pursued a freedom of information request. The records include investigators notes, interview transcripts, official reports and memos from the Salt Lake bid committee. Some testimony supports Tom Welch and Dave Johnson’s claim that they didn’t try to hide scholarship payments to relatives of IOC delegates. But the files also contain some incriminating evidence and unflattering portraits of bid leaders.
