For a fine-dining experience, which includes the cultural program, private reception and dinner cooked by about 50 of the world’s top chefs, it will cost you $5,000 for a table of eight at the Salt Lake Games. As part of the Olympic Arts Festival program – The Art of the Table – the chefs will serve dinners in Abravanel Hall to complement the cultural events, such as the American Folk Ballet and the Dale Chihuly art exhibit. The chefs are volunteering through the James Beard Foundation, a New York City-based non-profit organization that promotes culinary pursuits. Entrees include beef tenderloin stuffed with Maytag blue cheese on a wild mushroom ragout, hors d’oeuvre of Asian tuna tartare served in little savory cones, and sauteed bass with truffle-smashed potatoes and black truffles.
IOC President Jacques Rogge arrived in Salt Lake City Tuesday to oversee his first Olympic Games and was greeted by Fraser Bullock, SLOC’s chief operating officer, who gave him a purple Olympic jacket. Rogge was accompanied by his wife, marketing executive Michael Payne and other Olympic officials. He will check into the athlete’s Olympic Village the night before the Feb. 8 Opening Ceremonies.
Rogge may have arrived too late to see two Christian activists protesting the availability of free condoms inside the Olympic Village. They disagree with the Salt Lake Organizing Committee’s decision to stock the village with 12,000 condoms, available at first aid stations. While organizers of the 1998 Nagano Games did not provide condoms, organizers of the 2000 Games in Sydney did.
The 2002 Winter Games could be as much as 25 per cent more profitable for the NBC television network than the Sydney Games two years ago. NBC President Randy Falco said the network had reached 98 per cent of its goal of $720 million of advertising revenues, the highest amount for any Olympic Games, and should reach the goal within several days. Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Sports & Olympics, said the success of this year’s Games would be driven in part because 70 to 75 per cent of coverage will be live. He also expects the Sept. 11 attacks to be a factor in the Olympics because people throughout the world and more particularly in the United States, are looking for ways to come together.
And finally, those attending the Games will be able to get around by using a map that will show names of local businesses. The map has 296 icons showing people where to eat, drink, shop, dance and participate in downtown festivities. It is colour-coded to show restaurants’ price ranges and styles of cuisine, and it also indicates where to find rest rooms and ATM’s.
