What a difference a year makes. One year ago, Nagano City was pulling out the stops to welcome athletes from all over the world for a mammoth festival on ice and snow. Such was the universal appeal of the Olympic Games that even warring nations laid down their arms for the duration of the competition in the name of universal brotherhood.
One year later, the sweet and exciting memory of Nagano has come face to face with a nightmarish reality: Behind the protestations of peace and fraternity lies a shady world of back-scratching, gift-giving and outright bribery. With organizers of the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games accused of bribing a number of International Olympic Committee members, the IOC has sworn to look into the bidding process of past Olympics, including Nagano.
Right now, the spotlight is on Salt Lake City. Four separate investigations are reportedly under way into allegations that IOC members or their relatives received cash payments, scholarships, jobs, free medical care, real estate deals, lavish gifts and other inducements from Salt Lake promoters.