![]() | Tarnished Rings: The International Olympic Committee and the Salt Lake City Bid Scandal Subjects: Olympics -- Corrupt practices; International Olympic Committee; Salt Lake City Bid Committee for the Olympic Winter Games 2002; In late 1998 and the early months of 1999, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was an organization in crisis. Revelations of a slush fund employed by Salt Lake City officials to secure votes from a number of IOC members in support of the city's bid for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games invited intense scrutiny of the organization by the international media. The IOC and its president, Juan Antonio Samaranch, staggered through the opening weeks of the scandal, but ultimately Samaranch and key actors such as IOC vice president Richard Pound, marketing director Michael Payne, and director-general François Carrard weathered the storm. They also safeguarded the IOC's autonomy and subsequently spearheaded the push for reforms to the Olympic Charter, intended to better position the IOC for the twenty-first century. Stephen Wenn is professor of kinesiology and physical education at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario. He, Robert Barney, and Scott Martyn are the authors of Selling the Five Rings: The International Olympic Committee and the Rise of Olympic Commercialism. |
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