Word: ioc
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...lamppost, bus and taxi is bedecked in official logos; billboards have been raised just to welcome the hordes of interlopers who will take over this city for the next 16 days. At the airport, the arrivals area is stuffed with "Welcome" signs and banners, multi-lingual greetings and beaming IOC representatives...
Kickbacks, pay-offs, and other sundry dealings involving officials from the Mormon State were exposed under the previous IOC presidency of Juan Antonio Samaranch; he was forced out and so were dozens of Olympic bureaucrats. Salt Lake got to keep the Games, however...
...claims, because much of this expenditure was unnecessary from the federal level in light of how much was spent on the Atlanta Summer Olympics in 1996, which was a much larger event. In any case, the report adds to the growing mountain of evidence of wrongdoing. Right now, the IOC is making a half-hearted effort to clean itself...
Which brings me to the third problem. The IOC is being run by narrower and narrower interests. It spends time bashing Athens for not spending enough government money for the 2004 Summer Olympics while awarding the totalitarian Chinese government the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing. Lip service is being paid to improvements in drug testing. The committee adds sports to each Games like there’s a sale on them at Filene’s. Ballroom dancing? Extreme snowboarding...
Behind the bright lights and celebration, covered over by NBC and Michelle Kwan, there are dozens of little things and a few big things that the IOC needs to fix. Maybe cut some sports, or put the Winter Games back in the same years as the Summer Games. Spend less money on extravagance, or spend more money spreading winter sports during non-Olympic years. Do something...