The clock is ticking: Utah’s biggest Olympic opportunities come right now, long before the Games arrive
Jul 24, 2024, 12:46 PM | Updated: Aug 20, 2024, 3:19 pm
SALT LAKE CITY — The biggest opportunity for Utah as it prepares to host the Winter Olympics comes much sooner than 2034.
“The clock is ticking,” said former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt. “One of the primary learnings is that the benefit wasn’t what happened after; it is what we were able to accomplish during our years of preparation.”
Former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt sat down with KSL TV’s Deanie Wimmer to share his memories and insights of the 2002 Olympics. (KSL TV)
Leavitt sat down to share his memories and insights of the 2002 Olympics, just as the state is about to get the official nod to host them again in 2034.
Leavitt remembers how that official announcement in 2002 brought a collective, memorable moment for every Utahn who was watching.
“We were all breathless, with our hearts beating, for the same reason, and that is a rare circumstance. An entire community to be united with something.”
In the years to follow, Utah’s freeways, infrastructure, tech sector and arts scene expanded, along with the state’s population. Utah gained more than a million new residents.
Utah has a 10-year window to leverage the games in order to get federal funding to make big investments. For example, he suggests, another round of freeway projects to keep up with the population growth.
So, all of us must begin defining how we want our state to change and grow over the next decade.
“That’s the question we have to ask no matter what. Because when you ask what the secret sauce of Utah is, it’s the quality of life,” Leavitt said.
A general view of downtown Salt Lake City at night during the Salt Lake Winter Olympics on February 23, 2002 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Organizers have already secured 21,000 hotel rooms in and around Salt Lake for the 2034 games. (Brian Bahr)
Utah’s games in 2002 bring back memories of wrapped buildings, Olympic rings on the mountains and the Olympic torch run underneath Delicate Arch. When asked how you top those iconic images, Leavitt exclaimed, “You don’t!”
“They just need to do it again,” he said.
Utah’s primary legacy was our willingness to serve. Organizers were deeply worried about getting the needed 29,000 volunteers. In the end, 75,000 signed up. Leavitt believes on that front, we will take it to the next level.
“This is not about the world just coming to Utah. This is a chance for us to invite the world here, to serve them. And when we do, they’ll leave with an impression, not just of our state, but as a people.”
