Being a member of the U.S. Congress won’t get you free tickets to the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Games. House members were told they couldn’t accept free tickets to the Games because the body’s ethics rules prohibit accepting gifts worth more than $50. But free tickets to the opening and closing ceremonies may fall into the Utah delegation’s official or diplomatic duties and be exempt from the gift rule, according to a lawyer for the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. A spokesman for Sen. Orrin Hatch said there might be benefits to allowing some staffers access to events so they can observe security and interagency communication at the Games.
Residents of the Olympic Village will get their meals in a 40,000-square-foot white tent erected nearby, open 24 hours a day throughout the Games. The heated tent, know as “Douglas Dining” will have the usual steam tables and salad bars, but there will also be a McDonalds, one of the Olympic sponsors. Other items on the menu will include such diverse food as Asian-style stick rice, sirloin steaks and goat-cheese pizza. The campus’ existing area cafeteria will operate from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m. daily.
Small houses that ring Officers Circle on the university campus will be converted into shops that will feature other Olympic sponsor products, including Hallmark cards, Smith’s foods and Kodak film as well as services including a post office, bank and dry cleaners. There will also be an athletes’ Internet café.
The Officers Circle will be the centrepiece of what is known as the village’s International Zone, the main gathering place for athletes. And it’s the only area of the village that the more than 9,000 accredited journalists will be able to tour. Athletes can host visits by friends and family, but it’s off limits to the general public. The village will also have its own 200-seat movie theatre and a dance club.
Although Salt Lake has never been a taxicab town, Salt Lake City leaders are ready to suspend the rules to allow more cabs to cruise city streets in February and March, to accommodate visitors. After paying for criminal background checks and a Salt Lake City policy identification card, cab companies from Ogden, Murray and Sandy would be able to send drivers to downtown Salt Lake City.
For the first time an international sporting federation has granted full broadcasting rights on the Internet, as a pilot project. Swiss television will set up a special Web site with live broadcasts from the 2002 Salt Lake Games. The IOC said it granted television-type rights for a live webcast largely because the experimental project will be limited to Switzerland, and to see how it works. The technology will offer the same picture quality as home video tape (VHS) as well as a range of interactive features allowing a limited number of users to immediately consult background information, compare competitors, or watch several Olympic events on demand. The Web site will only be available through advanced high-capacity digital lines limited to subscribers of one service provider, Bluewin, in some Swiss cities, Basel, Geneva and Zurich. TSR, part of Swiss public broadcasting, is not paying additional fees to the IOC for the Internet transmission because it is regarded as experimental. The Swiss service will include the ability to watch several events at once, call up background information available to commentators while viewing, and independently use special on-screen graphics to track and compare competitors.
And finally, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee plans to set off a ring of fireworks around the city the evening of February 24. Organizers plan to place pyrotechnic equipment at a dozen spots around the city, including parks, water tanks, golf courses and along trails. Fireworks ranging from three to 16 inches in diameter will be set off for about 10 minutes. SLOC changed their plans for fireworks at the city’s Bonneville Golf Course after tests in October found the display would disturb the zoo animals next door. But Salt Lake City residents will have to put up with the noise.
