Chinese officials were tight-lipped on Monday over an investigation by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) into corruption and bribery that has now widened to include Australia.
But office workers outside a sprawling complex housing the All-China Sports Federation and Chinese Olympic Committee were privately fuming.
"The Sydney bribery scandal will harm the development of international sport," said Wang Xinzhai.
"I think they should step up the current clampdown on corruption, uncover any other bribes and clean up the Olympic Games."
Last week, Australia's Olympic Committee president John Coates revealed that the night before the IOC voted to give Sydney the games he promised two IOC delegates $35,000 each for their national Olympic committees.
In the end, just two votes decided the outcome.
Sydney beat Beijing by 45-43, an outcome that China regarded as a national humiliation.
"Those who took bribes should resign," said another office worker, Yang Xinli. "They did not live up to the demands of their job, which is for fair and equal competition.
"China should lodge a protest with the IOC," he said.
State newspapers gave wide play to the investigation, detailing the allegations while carefully avoiding any reference to Beijing's own bid to host the 2000 Olympics.
A spokesman for the Chinese Olympic Committee refused comment on the investigation.
Beijing's own bid for the 2000 Games was mired in controversy - not least because of the heavy-handed methods it employed to impress IOC officials, including President Juan Antonio Samaranch, on an inspection visit in 1993.
In the middle of a cold winter, all homes in the capital were ordered to douse coal-burning stoves used for heating and cooking.
Many factories were told to shut down their coal-fired boilers so the inspectors would see blue skies instead of grey smog and ease their worries about athletes choking in the pollution.
Tens of millions of Chinese were mobilised to whip up support for the Games bid, which was touted as a matter of national prestige and a focus for popular energy.
For China, the bid was in large part an effort to rebuild its international image in the wake of the bloody 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square.
But western rights activists fought fiercely, winning support from many in the U.S. House of Representatives, which voted overwhelmingly against giving Beijing the Games.
China's release of top dissident Wei Jingsheng in an apparent attempt to influence the vote was lambasted by rights groups as a cynical ploy.
Reeling from the loss, China stayed out of the Olympic limelight until this month when the Chinese Olympic Committee approved an application by Beijing to bid for the 2008 Summer Games.
Beijing's bid will face tough competition from Buenos Aires, Paris, Toronto, Kuala Lumpur, Istanbul, Osaka and Seville. The host will be announced after an IOC meeting in June 2001.
Reuters
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