Australian IOC member Kevan Gosper was cleared of any wrongdoing Monday in connection with trips he and his family took to Utah at the expense of the Salt Lake bid committee.
Gosper was investigated by the International Olympic Committee's own ethics commission after a British journalist linked him earlier this year to the scandal surrounding Salt Lake City's successful bid for the 2002 Winter Games.
Last year, 10 IOC members were either expelled or they resigned and another 10 were disciplined for accepting the more than $1 million in cash, gifts, scholarships and trips handed out by Salt Lake bidders hoping to influence the 1995 vote on where the Games should take place.
Gosper, however, was the victim of "deliberate concealment by Salt Lake City bid officials," according to the findings of a New York City-based attorney, Martin Lipton, who examined records provided by Gosper and the Salt Lake Organizing Committee.
But Lipton stopped short of judging the actions of the Salt Lake bid officials who arranged a 1993 ski trip to Deer Valley for Gosper's wife and two children and a 1995 visit to Salt Lake City for Gosper and his wife.
Lipton stated in his 20-page report that his "conclusions are expressly limited to the conduct of Mr. and Mrs. Gosper. . . . I express no view as to the actions of the Salt Lake City bid committee or any persons affiliated with it."
Three bid committee officials, Tom Welch, Dave Johnson and Rod Hamson, all declined through their attorneys to cooperate with the IOC investigation. Welch and Johnson led the bid committee, while Hamson handled financial matters.
Welch and Johnson are believed to be the targets of the ongoing criminal investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, while Hamson, who initially worked as a volunteer for the bid committee, is likely a cooperating witness.
"None of them were prepared to talk to us," Lipton told the Deseret News in a telephone interview from the IOC's headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, where the commission met. "We were not surprised."
SLOC, however, offered its "full cooperation," he said, providing a number of documents that the IOC was asked to keep confidential because of the federal government's ongoing criminal investigation.
Trustees of the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City have come under fire recently for refusing to make public documents related to the bid, including the so-called "geld memo" that reportedly details gifts given to IOC members.
Lipton said that particular document was not provided to the IOC's ethics commission. Of those documents that were turned over by SLOC, "none of them are of great significance," he said.
Between those documents and information provided by the Gospers, Lipton said he was satisfied the IOC had everything it needed to make a decision even without talking to bid committee officials.
The information provided by the Gospers included a canceled check for $1,650 for what they understood to be the cost of the 1993 ski trip. The actual value was more than $8,100, but the ethics commission determined the bid committee misled them about the cost.
That was Gosper's explanation earlier this year, supported by a stack of documents that SLOC did make public about the two trips after requests from Australian and American journalists.
Monday, Gosper was fighting back tears as he spoke to reporters in Lausanne. "I'm hugely relieved. . . . I feel (the ruling) has put the Gosper family integrity back on track. Now it's time to get my focus back on the Sydney Olympic Games."
Gosper is having trouble there, too. Monday, he was briefly stripped of his role in the Olympic torch relay following the public outrage over his 9-year-old daughter, Sophie, becoming the first Australian to carry the flame in Greece.
The honor had been expected to go to a 15-year-old Greek-Australian, Yianna Souleles. Gosper was forced to issue an apology late last week and blamed "fatherly pride" for his "lapse of judgment."
Sydney organizers announced Monday that Gosper would not take part in the Australian leg of the relay. Later, Olympics Minister Michael Knight said Gosper is still scheduled to meet the torch relay when it arrives in Guam and at Ayer's Rock in central Australia.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.