Welch Resigns From Winter Olympics After Abuse Charges

Tom Welch resigned Tuesday as chief organizer of the 2002 Winter Games, saying he wanted to protect his family and the Olympics from the “feeding frenzy” over charges he abused his wife.

Welch acted eight days after he was charged with domestic violence against his wife, Alma, during an argument over another woman in his life. He said the decision to step down was his alone.

“I have concluded that the costs and stresses imposed upon the (Salt Lake) Organizing Committee, my children and me by the unfounded charges and allegations which have been widely reported in the media are simply too high,” Welch said in a five-paragraph statement he read to reporters.

The 52-year-old Welch was on an African safari with one of his sons when the battery charge was filed July 21. He cut short the trip, returning to deny he had ever abused his wife and say his relationship with another woman he did not identify was platonic.

Despite her husband’s denial that he abused her, Mrs. Welch, 47, said she stood by everything she told police when they were summoned to the Welch home by one of the couple’s six children on July 9.