Let the Games begin.

Byline: The Register-Guard

The 2002 Winter Olympic Games begin this weekend under clouds of scandal and terrorism but redeemed by the promise of athletic grace. With luck and wrapped in a blanket of unprecedented security measures, the Games should once again prove to be a unifying and uplifting event.

For a while there, Salt Lake City's hosting of the Games was framed by indictments. Two of the city's leaders in its successful bid for the Games were indicted on 15 counts of bribery, racketeering, fraud and conspiracy - all related to $1 million in cash and other enticements given to International Olympic Committee members. Ten IOC members were ousted or forced to resign. The charges against the two Salt Lake City men were dismissed last fall by a federal judge, but the U.S. Department of Justice has appealed the decision. Fortunately, the trial - if there is one - won't be held during the Games.

The scandal did, indirectly, force the retirement of longtime IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch, whose imperial demeanor and elitist image created an atmosphere that failed to discourage, and perhaps even promoted, the tawdry bidding wars that have become an albatross around the Olympic neck. Samaranch has been succeeded by Belgian surgeon Jacques Rogge, who announced will stay in the athletes' village during the Winter Games - a gesture that Samaranch would never have made.

The other cloud darkening the Games is, of course, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. An event that brings together thousands of athletes, coaches, reporters and spectators from all over the world could make a highly visible target. To thwart that possibility, extensive security measures have been taken. Members of the National Guard and military reservists - including 195 troops from Oregon - will be on hand, supplemented by state and local police, federal agents, bomb-sniffing dogs, surveillance cameras, motion sensors, Black Hawk helicopters and sniper teams.

The airspace over the competition sites will become a no-fly zone. Salt Lake City's airport will be shut during opening and closing ceremonies.

While necessary, all of this heightened security might detract from the competition and the aura of the Olympic Games. But the athletes are going to Salt Lake City to compete, not worry about terrorists. That's as it should be, for the Olympic Games are, or should be, about competition - not politics, not bidding wars, not scandal and not terrorism.

In that vein, the world should witness not only the spectacle of the opening and closing ceremonies, but the brilliance, elegance, grace and sheer beauty of elite athletes doing what they do best. It is that ideal that will have the spotlight beginning Friday. As well it should.