Praise, Scandal Precede Sydney Olympics

July 30, 2000 — -- When Sydney, Australia was chosen in 1993 to host the 2000 Summer Olympic Games, euphoria swept the country and the people who secured the games were thought of as heroes.

“We’re really keen and enthusiastic about the Olympics,” says Stephen Juan, a columnist at the Sydney Sun-Herald and an anthropology professor at the University of Sydney. “We’re a real sporting nation here.”

But after the euphoria came the hangover, with “one scandal after another” that “has been devastating to morale” among Australians, as Juan says.

Many of the scandals began overseas, including site selection payoff allegations. But most touched Australian shores and joined a stew of domestic tensions — including threatened protests over historic treatment of Australia’s Aborigines and the controversial construction of an Olympic vollyball stadium on Bondi Beach, legendary among surfers.

But Sydney and international Olympics officials say when the games begin in mid-September, all the early distractions will be forgotten. They point to enthusiastic greetings for the Olympic torch that has been traveling through Australia as an indication that Australian public opinion has turned a corner, and to overflowing IOC praise of preparations as evidence that they are on top of logistical matters.

“There were periods where negative publicity or a fall in public interest as measured in opinion polls were certainly a concern,” said Richard Palfreyman, head of press operations for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. “We had some unexpected lows in the IOC [International Olympic Committee] scandals. But in the end, I think we’ve come out of it a lot stronger.”

Allegations that payoffs influenced the selection of several Olympic cities, including Sydney, have stuck most securely to Salt Lake City, host of the 2002 Winter Games. On July 20, a U.S. grand jury indicted the former president and vice president of the organization that brought Salt Lake City the games on charges that they paid $1 million in cash and gifts to accomplish their goal.

Sydney escaped an IOC investigation into its successful Olympic hosting bid, but an independent auditor in March 1999 found evidence that the Sydney bid committee broke several IOC rules concerning gift-giving and travel. However, the auditor declared the IOC rules “unclear” and “unworkable,” and did not find grounds for further review.