Special report - Mitt Romney's thrill of victory at the Olympics

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH (Reuters) - By the late 1990s, Mitt Romney had succeeded in business, failed in politics, and reached a crossroads. The path he took was to the Olympics.

In 1999, three years before the 2002 Winter Olympics, the Salt Lake City games were mired in a bribery scandal and facing a $400 million (255 million pound) budget shortfall. Utah's capital city, home of the straight-laced Mormon Church, had won its bid to host the Games with a shower of cash and presents on International Olympic Committee officials, bringing disgrace upon itself and the global sports organisation.