USOPC stays neutral on China, pushes Salt Lake City

By EDDIE PELLS
AP National Writer

Instead of staking out a hard-line position on the conflicts inherent in sending Olympic athletes to China, the leader of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee turned questions about the issues in the host country into a marketing pitch of sorts for Salt Lake City to host a future games. USOPC chair Susanne Lyons says the best thing America can do to help the Olympics is to offer to host games in the future, thus keeping them away from countries such as China, which is under the microscope on a number of fronts.