Nagano Spent Millions On Bid For 1998 Olympics

[Fiona]

Japanese boosters lavished millions of dollars on IOC delegates in the bid for the 1998 Winter Olympics at Nagano, according to a report ordered by the region's governor.

The report from the Nagano Prefecture Investigation Group criticized the Japanese city for providing an ``illegitimate and excessive level of hospitality'' to members of the International Olympic Committee.

Many Olympic insiders said Salt Lake City deserved to win that bid but couldn't match Nagano's gift-giving, and then went on a spree of its own to win the 2002 Olympics.

The two top leaders of Salt Lake's Olympic bid committee were indicted on bribery charges, but a federal judge threw out the case midway through the trial, saying the government had failed to prove bid chief Tom Welch or deputy Dave Johnson had done anything illegal or wrong.

The Nagano report made Salt Lake's favors appear meager by comparison.

In one telling moment, Nagano boosters left video cameras in hotel rooms for IOC members on the eve of the vote for the 1998 games. Salt Lake left disposable cameras.

During the next bid campaign Salt Lake doled out more than $1 million in cash, first-class travel, shopping sprees and gifts including a Rolex watch, a shotgun and a hunting dog. But Nagano won its bid by spending $4.4 million entertaining IOC members, another $544,000 on unspecified souvenirs, plus $776,000 that was unaccounted for, according to the report from Japan.

``That sounds high to me,'' Canadian IOC delegate Dick Pound, who lead an investigation of the Salt Lake scandal, told the Deseret Morning News. ``But then some of my colleagues are higher maintenance than I am.''

The report put Nagano's total bid expenses at $24 million, more than twice what Salt Lake spent on two bid campaigns.

The report ordered by Nagano Gov. Yasuo Tanaka in February 2004 has stirred little interest in Japan, said Tatsuya Iwase, a journalist and a member of the investigative board.

The report didn't name any boosters or itemize gifts offered to IOC members. Nagano burned most of its bid records after the Salt Lake scandal broke. The report did, however, identify a $13,000 ceremonial sword offered to then-IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch.

kutv.com