When one thinks about it, the amount of organization an Olympics games requires is mind-boggling. There is construction or procurement of venues for the events themselves, housing for athletes, providing food and entertainment, transportation, broadcasting, etc. And everything must work seamlessly crammed into a period of around seventeen days.
In late 1998, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, the organization responsible for organizing the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, was rocked by a scandal. It was revealed that the SLOC had improperly given bribes to certain members of the International Olympic Committee as a way to help win Salt Lake City's bid to host the 2002 games. The resulting scandal forced the resignation of SLOC's CEO and Mitt Romney was installed in his place in early 1999.
The book primarily recounts Romney's experience during his three years as head of the organizing committee. His main goals were to re-establish credibility with the public following the scandal and making sure the games were secure financially. Romney notes how difficult it could be to make sure they had enough money to do everything they wanted. Not only did they have to carefully look over the budget to find savings and make sacrifices on luxury items, but they also sought ways to find new revenues and new sponsors.
Most of the book is from Romney's perspective and what an executive does as head of an Olympics. He talks a lot about dealing with corporate sponsors and governments both for money and for organizational assistance. For example, security was always a big deal at the Olympics (especially since games in 1972 and 1996 saw terrorist attacks), but this became even more important following 9/11. Not only were law enforcement officials of Utah heavily involved, but police officers from other states and the federal government were required to make sure the games were secure.
I found this book to be an interesting look at the business side of how an Olympics is pulled off. There is very little on the athletes themselves in this book and their triumphs, but is instead focused totally on the business side. I would recommend this book to those interested in such a story.
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