Committee To Decide On 2030 Or 2034 Bid For Olympics Return To Utah
Jun 10, 2021, 6:40 PM | Updated: Jun 11, 2021, 5:59 am
KEARNS, Utah – The Salt Lake City – Utah Committee for the Games met in person for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic and started to work on what year they will bid on for bringing the games back to Utah.
They weren’t there in person for Thursday’s meeting, but almost everyone knew their names, names likes Ted Ligety, Nathan Chen, Lindsey Vonn, and Apolo Anton Ohno.
They are on the strategic board and the governing board to bring the Olympics back to Salt Lake City.
Thursday morning, the committee met at the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns.
Their biggest question is whether to go for the 2030 or the 2034 Olympics.
The biggest issue in going for 2030 is that Los Angeles was already picked to host the 2028 Olympics.
The International Olympic Committee doesn’t traditionally award the same country back-to-back games, but the bid process is changing.
For example, the IOC awarded Paris and Los Angeles the 2024 and 2028 Summer Games at the same time, which normally doesn’t happen.
If the IOC does the same for the 2030 and 2034 Winter Games, the Salt Lake Committee said it must be prepared to be in consideration for either one.
Fraser Bullock, who was the COO of the Salt Lake 2002 Games and is the President and CEO of the new committee, feels what made Salt Lake City so attractive for either 2030 or 2034 is our venues and Olympic spirit.
“We’re so fortunate that we have all of the venues here in place and everything,” said Bullock. “That experience, the people, the enthusiasm of this market, the political support, we’re really, like, a dream city in terms of being able to bring back the games because all the pieces are in place.”
Of course, Salt Lake’s reputation for 2002 doesn’t automatically guarantee a future Olympics.
Vancouver, which hosted the 2010 games right in the middle of the recession, is also interested in 2030.
Casey Dawson, a speedskater from Park City, would love to see the Games return in 2030 because there’s a chance he could be on that team.
He’s too young to remember the 2002 Olympics but realized the legacy the Games left behind is what helped him to even take up speedskating in the first place.
“There are so many programs here for younger kids that are in place,” said Dawson. “Having those programs and bringing the Olympics back here in 2030 would really inspire people to push further.”
Cities in Japan and Spain have expressed interest in hosting the 2030 Winter Olympics.
For now, the question for Salt Lake City remains, 2030 or 2034?
