IOC Bribery Scandal Widens. Et Tu, Atlanta?

After Salt Lake City's Olympic-bribery scandal forced the resignation or dismissal of 10 IOC members, the head of the Atlanta Olympic Committee, Billy Payne, said his group won the 1996 Games without resorting to underhanded tactics. "We did not bribe anyone," he said in February. "We did not make cash payments. We did not give outrageous gifts." And in a June report to the House Commerce Committee investigating violations of federal bribery laws in Olympic bids, Payne and former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young attested to only 38 items exceeding the $200-per-gift limit.

However, after reviewing more than 30 boxes of documents from the Georgia Amateur Athletics Foundation, investigators say there were many gifts worth more than $1,000, including offers of scholarships to IOC family members. In fact, the discrepancies were so great that earlier this month the law firm that represented the city's Olympic committee asked Commerce if it could "amend" the report. Let's hope it is right this time.