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PARIS — In addition to showcasing Utah's dramatic scenery and young, athletic population, the Pioneer Day pitch to bring the 2034 Winter Games to the state relied on a couple of famous residents.
Actors Katherine Heigl and Ty Burrell provided narration for a pair of videos produced by Salt Lake City's Boncom for the final presentation to the International Olympic Committee on July 24 at Le Palais des Congrès de Paris in the French capital.
Heigl, best known for her role on "Grey's Anatomy," helped tell the story of the legacy left by the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, describing how, "in Utah, there's been a spirit that's been growing for the last two decades" as a young girl is seen cross-country skiing through a forest.
Titled "Legacy," the 1½-minute long video is intended to show Utahns "cultural connection" to sport, according to the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games.
"You can see it in our kids, who carve through childhood on skis and skates." says Heigl, who is raising her three children on a Summit County ranch, adding, "The Games left us with more than venues and memories. The Games reshaped our culture."
The video, shown early on in the bid committee's half-hour presentation, ends what the now-organizing committee calls a welcome back message to the world: "Salt Lake is now, and will forever be, an Olympic City. It's part of our everyday life, woven into the fabric of every Utahn."
The voice heard on the next video, titled "Give Back," is Burrell, one of the stars of "Modern Family." After settling in Salt Lake City years ago, he opened four bars in Utah, starting in the early days of the TV series that ran for 11 seasons.
The video, also 1½-minutes long, focuses on young athletes from around the world who train at venues like the Utah Olympic Park near Park City, where the ski jumps and sliding track built for the 2002 Games continue to be used by community and elite athletes.
Utah is portrayed as "creating a future where the Games continue to evolve as much as the athletes," Burrell says, adding that the potential future Olympians "will be at their best if we're at our best. Together we won't just reach for greatness; we'll embrace it."
There's another well-known face that shows up briefly in a photograph used in the presentation, Utah's first lady, Abby Cox. Wearing a cowboy hat, she and two members of the Utah Cowgirl Collective are all pictured on horseback, herding cattle in front of a snowy mountain range.
