MOSCOW — The new president of the International Olympic Committee is coming to Salt Lake City next month.
"It's my duty. In seven months' time the Games are opened. The very first priority for the IOC is Salt Lake City Games," IOC President-elect Jacques Rogge said before leaving Russia.
Salt Lake Organizing Committee President Mitt Romney said Rogge assured him during a meeting Tuesday that the IOC wouldn't expect any lavish treatment at the 2002 Winter Games.
"He dictates that preparations for him and the members of the IOC need not be elaborate. He prefers a van to a sedan or a limousine. No flags, please. No police escorts," Romney said.
Rogge announced shortly after his election Monday that he wants to stay in the athletes village at the University of Utah during the Games instead of in the Little America Hotel downtown with the rest of the IOC.
The Salt Lake Organizing Committee is happy to accommodate him, Romney said, but there's only room for the new president. "We can't extend it beyond him if this starts a trend."
Rogge said the IOC only expects "normal working conditions," similar to those provided by organizers of the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, Australia.
"We don't need luxury. We need, of course, the normal comfort for living about three weeks or a month and good working conditions," he said.
"I am a sober man and I want the IOC to reflect that. I believe athletes lead sober lives and we should reflect that. I believe we reflect that already."
The IOC's once-opulent lifestyle has been toned down since it was revealed that Salt Lake bidders gave out more than $1 million in cash and gifts to woo the support of IOC members selecting a 2002 Winter Games host city.
Rogge, who officially takes over from IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch on Friday, promises to set an even more somber tone.
The Belgian orthopedic surgeon and Olympic yachtsman, like Romney, shuns the trappings of power long associated with the Olympics.
Romney described Rogge's style as "not highly ceremonial or formal," but said he expects the new president to recognize the dignity of his office.
When Rogge arrives in Salt Lake City on Aug. 6 or 7, it will be the first time he's seen the city. Unlike many other IOC members, he turned down the free trips offered by the Salt Lake bid team. Rogge said he's never visited cities bidding for an Olympics.
While in Utah, Romney said Rogge will sit down with SLOC officials and tour the Olympic venues. He will then go to Colorado Springs to meet with U.S. Olympic Committee officials.
The trip will follow a brief meeting of the IOC Executive Board in Edmonton, Canada, during the world track and field championships.
The IOC Executive Board will hold two additional meetings before the 2002 Games in yet-to-be named cities. Romney said he was told Salt Lake City would not be considered because Rogge does not want to impose on organizers so close to the Games scheduled for Feb. 8-24.
Rogge said he considers the Salt Lake City visit his first official activity as the leader of the IOC. He will move later this summer to Lausanne, Switzerland, where the IOC is headquartered.
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