Charlie Battle, who served on both the bid committee, which works to land the Games, and the organising committee, which is responsible for staging them, told the Washington Post he and other members of the bid committee ignored the IOC's gift limitation - then $200 - in dispensing mementos such as $475 golf clubs to IOC members who visited the city from 1988 to 1990.
Although the International Olympic Committee allows bid committees to provide first-class aeroplane tickets to its members and one guest of their choosing, Battle told the Post that Atlanta at times invited an additional family member, usually a son or daughter - a perk that could cost $10,000 or more.
But the Post said Battle repeatedly insisted in an interview that the committee did "nothing wrong" because the IOC gift-giving rule was widely ignored and he did not consider the gifts excessive.
"I'm proud of what we did," Battle told the paper, adding, "we didn't do anything illegal, immoral, unethical or what I felt was improper, given the context of lavish hospitality and entertainment that was the accepted route."
Battle, an attorney who now is president of a downtown Atlanta development group, said former Atlanta Olympic Committee members had not been contacted by the Justice Department.
Battle and former Atlanta committee president Billy Payne have publicly said in recent days they were unaware of any improprieties during the two-year bidding process.
Atlanta's campaign to win the right to the Olympics cost $7.8 million, according to bid committee documents. The committee spent $376,545 during one trip alone - to the crucial 1990 IOC meeting in Tokyo at which the Games were awarded.
Often, Atlanta bid committee officials distributed gifts that addressed individual interests of the international committee's members, Battle told the Post.
"We got one a compass for one member and some books about European history for another. We gave Prince Albert (of Monaco) a lithograph of Amherst, where he went to college, signed by the president of the college. It was no big deal, but it was something we felt would be special to him," he said.
The International Olympic Committee has asked cities that bid for five Olympics - those from 1996 to 2004 - to report improprieties in the process. It set a deadline of last Monday for submission of these reports, but the United States Olympic Committee, which will forward Atlanta's report, has requested an extension, according to the Post.
Twenty-three international committee members have been implicated in the acceptance of improper gifts or cash payments or both from the Salt Lake City bid committee.
Reuters
