The Utahns waiting to hear that Salt Lake City had been named the site of the 1998 Winter Games sat in stunned silence when the bid went to Nagano, Japan, Saturday night.
Salt Lake City lost in a close vote, 46-42.Only moments before, they had been waving their brightly colored scarves and cheering for their bid in a hall crowded with hundreds of their competitors from Nagano; Ostersund, Sweden; Jaca, Spain; and Aosta, Italy.
The rest of the announcement by International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch was drowned out by the cheers from Nagano supporters, both those in the hall and those broadcast live from the Japanese city.
When the giant screen at the front of the hall switched to a live broadcast from Ostersund, showing Swedes waving signs reading "Ostersund congratulates Nagano," the Ostersund delegation in the hall gave Nagano a standing ovation.
Tom Welch, chairman of the Salt Lake City Bid Committee for the Olympic Winter Games, sat at the front of the hall with Utah dignitaries. But like the rest of the 240-plus Utah delegation seated behind him, he was quiet.
"We need to look and see what happened," Welch told reporters. Welch said he did not feel betrayed by the Olympic bid process, which Salt Lake City first got involved with in 1966. "We knew what the process was when we went in."Geography was blamed for Salt Lake City's second-place finish. Japan has hosted only two Olympics, the 1964 Summer Games in Tokyo and the 1972 Winter Games in Sapporo.
Not only would a 1998 Winter Games in Salt Lake City have been the sixth Olympics held in North America in 22 years, but Atlanta was a controversial choice for the 1996 Summer Games because it beat out sentimental favorite Athens.
Officials of Atlanta's Olympic Organizing Committee, in Birmingham to report to the IOC on their progress, were feeling guilty that their success last year may have lost Salt Lake City the bid. But not too guilty.
"We were there first," said Andrew Young, co-chairman of that city's Olympic organizing committee. While mayor of Atlanta, Young helped bring the games back to the United States after Los Angeles hosted the 1984 Summer Games.
Utah's senators were especially frustrated. "The United States is sometimes viewed as the big kid on the block and resented for it," Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said after being consoled by Young.
"This is what Salt Lake City deserves, and what our state deserves, and by damned we're going to get it," Hatch said, vowing to do whatever he can to secure the 2002 Winter Games for Salt Lake City.
"I'm not disappointed, I'm angry." said Sen. Jake Garn, R-Utah. "I don't think the decision was made on the basis of merit. It was made on the basis on international politics."
Salt Lake City's bid supporters filed out of the hall into buses waiting to take them to a party held at an area home that had been used to entertain IOC members. Nearby, Jaca and Nagano delegates danced together in the lobby.
Nagano officials were kept busy after the announcement answering questions from reporters during their first press conference as the host of the 1998 Winter Games.
"It's true that geographical distribution was a major factor. I do not think that was the only one," Soichiro "Sol" Yoshida, vice chairman of the Nagano Winter Olympics Bidding Committee, said through an interpreter.
"We did have big support from the citizens of Nagano in Birmingham," Yoshida said.
The size of the Nagano delegation was about 1,000 people, including some 200 journalists.
Their sheer numbers as well as their seemingly never-ending attempts to attract attention to the Nagano bid reportedly were getting on the nerves of some IOC members.
Only a handful of the members of Utah's delegation were allowed to go near the International Convention Centre where the IOC met last week, a strategy that Welch continued to stand by on Saturday.
Most of the Utah delegation attended the party at what was known this week as the "Salt Lake House." There they were reassured by Gov. Norm Bangerter and Salt Lake Mayor Palmer DePaulis that they had done all that they could. "I think maybe you could say the decks were stacked a little bit on this one. But that's OK. We play by the rules," Bangerter told the disappointed group.
Although none of the Salt Lake City bid committee officials have been willing to come right out and say it, they have been frustrated by some of the lobbying tactics reportedly used by the Japanese.
Letters critical of Salt Lake City's bid were delivered to IOC members only hours before they met to select the site of the 1998 Games, according to Dave Johnson, vice chairman of international relations for the bid committee.
And Welch acknowledged he spoke with the IOC president to complain about a member of the Olympic family who said Samaranch had made up his mind reportedly in favor of Nagano.
Until the announcement, the attention of the Salt Lake bid committee was focused on its hourlong presentation to the IOC Saturday afternoon. Like their competitors, Salt Lake bid officials used bothvideo tape and speakers to tell their story.
All of it had been kept secret, there were a few surprises.
"For 25 years, we have believed in the Olympics. We have believed in the ideals of excellence. Today we believe in you," Welch told the IOC members during the presentation.
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(Chart)
How they voted
-Cities Eliminated
Round 1:
Salt Lake City 15
Ostersund, Sweden 18
Nagano, Japan 21
Jaca, Spain 19
Aosta, Italy 15
Total Votes
88
Round 2*:
Salt Lake City 59
Ostersund, Sweden -
Nagano, Japan -
Jaca, Spain -
Aosta, Italy 29 (cities eliminated)
Total votes 88
Round 3**
Salt Lake City 27
Ostersund, Sweden 25
Nagano, Japan 30
Jaca, Spain 5 (cities eliminated)
Aosta, Italy -
Total votes 87
Round 4:
Salt Lake City 29
Ostersund, Sweden 23 (cities eliminated)
Nagano, Japan 36
Jaca, Spain -
Aosta, Italy -
Total votes 88
Round 5:
Salt Lake City 42 (cities eliminated)
Ostersund, Sweden -
Nagano, Japan 46
Jaca, Spain -
Aosta, Italy -
Total votes 88
*Votes required to break last-place tie in first round.
**Only 87 votes were returned in Round 3.