It seems the International Olympic Committee is snubbing Salt Lake City for a second time. An IOC executive board meeting scheduled for Salt Lake in February has been moved to Senegal. IOC spokesman Franklin Servan-Schreiber said IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch wants to pay homage to Africa before he steps down in July. Last February an IOC meeting set for Colorado Springs, Colorado and Salt Lake City was moved to Sydney Australia, where IOC members said they needed to check Olympic preparations, avoiding FBI questioning in the Olympic bid scandal.
Salt Lake’s 2002 security planners are watching Israeli-Palestinian clashes and the aftermath of the fatal bombing of a U.S. ship in Yemen, but they say current tensions have not changed their focus. Utah’s Olympic command started planning for the Salt Lake Winter Games more than two years ago and has more than 90 per cent of its work completed. Security will be especially tight at Olympic venues and the athletes’ village.
Although the 2008 host city has not yet been announced, several cities are already gearing up for a 2012 Olympic bid. New York has announced its intention to bid for the 2012 Summer Games. Dan Doctoroff, a managing partner at a private equity firm based in New York, started an organization called NYC2012 that now has 10 full-time employees, some part-time consultants and hundreds of volunteers. And a delegation of New Yorkers went to the Sydney Games. Recently the city unveiled its official plans to bid for the 2012 Games, which would include a state-of-the-art Olympic stadium on a platform built on top of the city’s West Side rail yards. The United States Olympic Committee will select a representative bid city by the fall of 2002, and the IOC will make its choice for the 2012 Games in July, 2005.
As part of a growing movement to bring the 2012 Games to Warsaw, Poland, two runners carrying Olympic-style torches ran past a crowd of townspeople in Oswiecim, Poland, just days before the Sydney Olympics. Ryszad Parulski, a former Olympic medallist, organized the run. Another run is scheduled for next spring. And now Warsaw’s bid is receiving support from Poland’s Prime Minister and the country’s Minister of Sports.
About 46 firms have donated $7.6 million in cash and services for the Washington/Baltimore Regional 2012 Coalition. The coalition needs at least $9 million to present a credible bid by December 15 to host the 2012 Games. Thirteen of the firms have each donated or raised at least $500,000 for the effort, or provided various services.
And finally, President Fidel Castro announced at a reception for the Cuban Olympic delegation that Cuba is ready to bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games. He said, “if it all works out, 12 years isn’t such a long time and we’ll all still be young”.
