Olympic Scandal Unfolds: Salt Lake City Leaders Indicted
The Olympic bid that cost $1.2 million in "scholarships" for IOC members' relatives landed Tom Welch and Dave Johnson in federal court. Indicted July 20, 2000, the Salt Lake organizers faced fifteen felony counts for showering International Olympic Committee officials with cash payments, plastic surgery for one delegate's wife, and jobs for their children. The games still came to Utah in 2002—attendance records shattered, $56 million profit earned. But the scandal triggered the IOC's biggest ethics reform in its 106-year history, expelling six members. Turns out you can buy the Olympics; you just can't get caught doing it so obviously.
July 20, 2000
26 years ago
What Else Happened on July 20
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