See also Canada and the United States;Earth in the
Balance; Foreign policy of Canada; Foreign policy of
the United States.
Salt Lake City Olympics bid
scandal
Identification A bribery scandal to obtain the
2002 Olympic Winter Games for Salt Lake City,
Utah
Recognized as the biggest corruption scandal in the histor y
of the Olympics, the Salt Lake City Olympics bid scandal led
to reform and new guidelines in site selection for the Olym-
pic Games.
Prior to the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, Salt Lake
City had made several attempts to secure the Olym-
pics but never received the honor. After an extensive
amount of prebid groundwork by the Salt Lake Or-
ganizing Committee (SLOC) during the early 1990’s,
it was almost certain that the 2002 Winter Games
would be granted to the city. On June 16, 1995, the In-
ternational Olympic Committee (IOC) announced
that Salt Lake City had indeed won the bid.
In 1998, more than three years later, it was discov-
ered that the city’s bidders had spent more than one
million dollars in gifts, travel, scholarships, medical
bills, cash, and gratuities for thirteen IOC officials
and their relatives. On December 13, 1998, the
SLOC apologized for the alleged rule violations.
Massachusetts businessman Mitt Romney was ap-
pointed to head the SLOC on February 11, 1999, in
order to revamp the image of Salt Lake City and pro-
vide the necessary leadership for a successful 2002
Winter Olympics.
After extensive investigations, former SLOC pres-
ident Thomas K. Welch and vice president David R.
Johnson were indicted on fifteen charges by a fed-
eral grand jury. Both were charged with one count of
conspiracy, four violations of the Travel Act, five
counts of mail fraud, and five counts of wire fraud.
As a result of insufficient evidence, however, U.S.
District Judge David Sam had dismissed all of the
charges by November 15, 2001. After the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit reversed Judge
Sam’s decision and reinstated the charges against
Welch and Johnson, the defense filed for a motion of
acquittal, which is rarely granted. On December 5,
2003, Judge Sam acquitted Welch and Johnson, offi-
cially ending the five-year-old bribery scandal of the
2002 Winter Olympics.Impact After a thorough investigation of the Salt
Lake City Olympics bid scandal, ten IOC members
were expelled and another ten were sanctioned. It
was the first expulsion or sanction for corruption in
the history of the IOC. Further investigation re-
vealed that bribery scandals were employed in secur-
ing the 1998 Winter Olympics for Nagano, Japan,
and the 2000 Summer Olympics for Sydney, Austra-
lia. As a result of the scandals, stricter guidelines and
rules were adopted by the IOC for future Olympic
Games bids. Limits were placed on how much IOC
members could accept from bid cities. Fifteen for-
mer Olympic athletes were added to the IOC, and
new term and age limits were instituted for IOC
membership.Further Reading
Gerdy, John R.Sports: The All-American Addiction.
Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2002.
Romney, Mitt.Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership, and
the Olympic Games. Washington, D.C.: Regnery,
2004.
Thompson, Hunter S.Hey Rube: Blood Sport, the Bush
Doctrine, and the Downward Spiral of Dumbness: Mod-
ern Histor y from the Sports Desk. New York: Simon &
Schuster, 2004.
Alvin K. BensonSee also Olympic Games of 1992; Olympic Games
of 1994; Olympic Games of 1996; Olympic Games of
1998; Scandals; Sports. Sampras, Pete
Identification Professional tennis player
Born August 12, 1971; Washington, D.C.
Sampras established himself in the 1990’s as not only the
best tennis player of the decade but also one of the best ever.
Having competed extensively as a promising ama-
teur, Pete Sampras turned professional in 1988. In
that year, he entered his first grand-slam tourna-
ment, the U.S. Open, but lost in the first round after
having won the first two sets. In the next year, he
competed in all four grand-slam tournaments, los-
ing in the first round at the Australian Open, reach-The Nineties in America Sampras, Pete 741