LAUSANNE, Switzerland — Michael Knight, the head of the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, just shrugged when asked Tuesday about the International Olympic Committee's concern over continued bad press Down Under.
"You deal with whatever cards you're dealt," Knight said.
Members of the IOC Executive Board did raise the issue during the more than 11/2 hours they spent behind closed doors with Knight and other Sydney officials Tuesday.
Much of the time, however, was devoted to questions about the long list of problems detailed in the Australian media and, as the Sept. 15 opening ceremonies draw near, the rest of the world's press as well.
Ticketing and limitations on the number of television reporters from networks that didn't pay millions of dollars for broadcast rights were among the topics discussed.
With the Sydney Games so close, though, IOC officials say such problems are to be expected. The attention they're creating means the focus is off Salt Lake City.
After all, organizers of the 2002 Winter Games still have some time left to test their readiness. Next winter, at least five of the 15 or so major sports competitions will be full-scale dress rehearsals for the Olympics.
"The two big concerns last season were weather and Snowbasin," said Cathy Priestner Allinger, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee's sports director. "Things weren't ready."
Allinger arrived Tuesday in Lausanne for a meeting of the International Olympic Winter Sports Federations to deal with those issues as well as whether the National Hockey League will send players to Salt Lake City.
Although the final decision on that won't be made here, Allinger said she hopes to leave Thursday with an agreement on player participation with the International Ice Hockey Federation. There's a long list of issues that need to be covered, including the number of players and officials that SLOC will have to find housing for during the Games, and who'll pick up their additional security and insurance costs.
Allinger is the only SLOC official here. Both SLOC President Mitt Romney and Chief Financial Officer Fraser Bullock are reporting to the IOC on Wednesday via a video link-up.
The only major issue on their agenda is getting approval for SLOC volunteer and staff uniforms. The design, being kept secret by organizers until this fall, reportedly has a "fire and ice" theme of warm and cool colors.
Warm is not a word SLOC hopes is associated with the weather come February 2002. Higher-than-normal temperatures this winter forced organizers to come up with contingency plans, such as trucking in snow.
"Snow's always a risk," Allinger said. So, are the federations worried? "I'd say no."
The first big downhill competition scheduled at the Snowbasin Ski Area this winter had to be cancelled because of lack of snow, something that just can't happen at the Games.
"It's going to be a challenge to make it up," Allinger said. "The downhill is the highest risk event that we run here in terms of safety for the athletes. It's also very high profile."
That's what has ski federation officials worried. "They haven't had a chance to really see it in action . . . they're going to be a little more concerned, and rightfully so," Allinger said.
The IOC Executive Board will hear some of these issues when members meet with the winter sports federations on Wednesday. They'll also meet with summer sports federations.
On their first of three days of meetings, the IOC Tuesday announced the appointment of Ninian Stephen, a former judge who carries the title of "right honorable sir" in Australia, to the IOC Ethics Commission.
Stephen replaces IOC Vice President Kevan Gosper, who stepped down after the commission decided to investigate allegations that he accepted tens of thousands of dollars in travel from Salt Lake City's tainted Olympic bid effort.