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Summarized by Kent Larsen
Former SLOC Officials Use Missionary Lingo Defense
(Salt Lake official defends Olympic 'geld' notation)
(Phoenix) AZ Republic (AP) 28May00 S3
Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- The two former Salt Lake Organizing Committee
executives accused of bribing members of the International Olympic
Committee claim that a word next to the names of IOC members is LDS
missionary lingo and not an indication of who they would bribe.
former bid executives Tom Welch and Dave Johnson wrote the word
"geld" next to the name of IOC members who were loyal supporters of
Salt Lake's bid. In German the word means money, but in Flemish, the
language Johnson spoke on his LDS mission, the word means gold.
Johnson's attorney, Max Wheeler, offered the explanation on Saturday,
saying that the word was never meant to imply that the members could
be bribed. ''It was a term that was used in the mission field to mean
'golden' - somebody who was on your side or receptive to your
message,'' Wheeler said. Welch told the associated press the same
story, ''It's nothing,'' he said, and indicated that the word
translates as ''golden contacts.''
The word appears on a memo in the files of the Salt Lake bid
committee next to the names of eight IOC members, including five that
have been implicated in the Olympic bribery scandal. Two of the other
three have not previously been associated with the scandal. And
Jamaican IOC member Tony Bridge said Saturday from his home in
Kingston denied receiving any bribes from the SLOC, ''Nobody ever
approached me with money and I never received a red cent,'' he said.
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