Two .40-caliber semi-automatic pistols engraved with 24-karat gold Winter Games Olympic rings and gold script are sitting in Salt Lake County Sheriff Aaron Kennard’s safe. The pistols were prototypes for a failed sponsorship by gun maker SIG Sauer. The Sheriff and his staff spent more than two years winning approval from the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, but the deal was stopped by the International Olympic Committee last May, hours before the contract was to be signed. Sheriff Kennard figured the licensing deal could generate as much as $500,000 to SLOC.
Tom Price, head of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee’s Environmental Advisory Committee, criticized SLOC’s transportation plan for counting on 95 per cent of spectators getting to Park City and other remote venues in their own vehicles. But SLOC’s senior vice president for transportation, Grant Thomas, said Olympic organizers have done all they can to encourage public transportation during the Games. SLOC can only afford the 1,000 buses already allocated as spectator shuttles and the 85 that will move spectators between cities. Each bus added to the combined private and Utah Transit Authority fleet during the events will cost at least $1,000 a day. Thomas said SLOC will send questionnaires to ticket holders next year, and if enough people say they will use them, the number of long distance buses may be doubled to 170.
Salt Lake Organizers have promised to include American Indians in the Olympic pageantry, but some tribal representatives say not enough has been done. Forrest Cuch, a Ute Indian and director of the Utah Division of Indian Affairs, who also serves on the board of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, said, “we need to sit down and talk”. While saying that he is satisfied with how preparations are going, Cuch said SLOC should rely more on planning help from the Native American 2002 Foundation, a Utah group working to bring tribes together for the Olympics. But Salt Lake Olympic head Mitt Romney said one of the reasons Olympic organizers have not aligned with the Native American 2002 Foundation is to keep communications open with all ethnic groups. He added that SLOC will rely on the Native American 2002 Foundation to help select nine leaders from North American tribes to be recognized as heads of state at the Games.
Mitt Romney, head of SLOC said he would like the Mormon Temple to be the signature shot for TV coverage of the 2002 Winter Games. But Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson thinks that would send the wrong message to Utah residents who are not members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He would rather have the focus on a more neutral landmark like the Salt Lake City Country Building. But NBC Senior Olympic producer Jim Bell has been scouting Utah for beautycam shots. Bell figures NBC will focus on nature and athletes more than buildings. At the same time NBC will sign off with video of the city’s skyline.
Leipzig mayor Wolfgang Tiefensee said the eastern German city plans to order a feasibility study on bidding for the summer Olympics in 2012 or 2016. The German Olympic Committee (NOK) is expected to make a decision over a German bid in November of 2001.
And finally, Nancy Greene, Canada’s female athlete of the century, says Canadians winning Olympic gold medals should receive $1 million bonuses. Other athletes and officials agreed an incentive program is needed, although $1 million may be high.
