Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

Salt Lake Moves on From Olympic Bidding Scandal

Aired July 13, 2001 - 08:20   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LINDA STOUFFER, CNN ANCHOR: So, if you had a vote, what city among the five contenders would you like to see host the 2008 Summer Games? Well, that is the question a CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll is asking. And it turns out Toronto is the overwhelming favorite of those surveyed. Beijing is a distant fourth . And Istanbul didn't even register. Gallup polled 998 Americans.

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, after today's decision on 2008, attention turns to the next Olympics just eight months away in Salt Lake City.

John Vause reports now on how Utah's capital has moved on from the bidding scandal that rocked the entire Olympics movement.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These days, the Olympic flag flies proudly over Salt Lake City. Most of the venues have been built. The rest are ahead of schedule. Already, five world records have been set at the Speed Skating Oval. And more than two years after the Salt Lake Games were tainted by revelations of bribery and corruption, public support seems to have returned.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm real excited about the idea of the Olympics being here, the world coming to our doorstep.

MITT ROMNEY, SALT LAKE ORGANIZING COMMITTEE: This is a community, I think, that's behind the Olympics and showing that we can do a great job, perhaps more than any other community in the history of the Games -- maybe because of the deep hole we started in.

VAUSE: Mitt Romney, a venture capitalist from Boston, took over the Games in the wake of the bid scandal. Sponsors were pulling out. The Committee was almost $400 million in debt. So he cut the budget and developed some novel ways to raise money -- like $100 rides on the Olympic bobsled run, tickets auctioned on the Internet to increase sales.

But now the city is battling an image problem brought about by confusing drinking laws and the dominant Mormon Church.

DEAN MAY, HISTORY PROFESSOR: A common image is that it is a remote place, isolated geographically and culturally, one that tends to foster quite a number of kooks and weirdos. VAUSE: It didn't help when the church donated a block of land downtown for the Medals Plaza, which will be the focal point for celebrations, and alcohol was then banned.

Amid all this, Salt Lake is still dealing with the bid scandal. Later this month, the two men who won the Games, Tom Welch and Dave Johnson, will again appear in court accused of conspiracy and fraud, another reminder for this very religious city that its Winter Games may not be as pure as the driven snow.

John Vause, CNN, Salt Lake City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com