Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- Former Gov. Leavitt sees 2034 Winter Games as key to Utah's growth.
- He highlights the 2002 Olympics' success in improving infrastructure and state branding.
- Organizers promise community engagement and environmental focus, aiming for transformative impact.
SALT LAKE CITY — Former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt has a long list of ways the 2002 Winter Games moved Utah forward, including the rapid rebuilding of I-15, and wants to see the same from the next Olympics.
At an Envision Utah breakfast Wednesday in the University of Utah's Rice-Eccles Stadium tower, Leavitt recalled a moment from the finale of the 2002 closing ceremony held there that made it clear the efforts were appreciated.
"The fireworks are going. The music is playing. There's smoke in the air, and it was just fabulous," he said, describing how a man in front of him suddenly started chanting, "Utah, Utah, Utah," before turning around and recognizing the governor.
"He was embarrassed," Leavitt said, but then explained he no longer feared the impact of the Olympics. "He said, 'Governor, I was against this. And I was wrong.' That's really worth remembering. There was a lot of opposition on the same basis. But they were wrong."
Hosting the 2034 Olympics and the Paralympics that follow for athletes with disabilities, and possibly more in the future, provides a way for Utahns to maintain their quality of life as the state grows, he said.
"We won't have the quality of life we want without the Games. We can have it using the Games as a catalyst to preserve it," said Leavitt, who was elected governor three times before serving in former President George W. Bush's administration.
In 2002, that meant creating an "internal brand" for a state then associated overseas with John Wayne but little else, said Leavitt, now president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square.
The branding intended to put Utah on the map was part of a larger agenda to make the state both a winter sports and a technology capital. Using the deadline of the Olympics, Leavitt said the state was able to make major transportation and other improvements.
Hosting the 2034 Winter Games offers a chance to do even more, organizing committee CEO Brad Wilson, a former Utah House speaker, assured the audience of community and business leaders.
"I would argue that the 2034 Games, if we do this right, may be the biggest opportunity in Utah's history," Wilson declared. "This time we have more runway and we have the ability to engage the entire state."
The International Olympic Committee voted to give Utah a second Winter Games last year under a new bidding process. That gives organizers, who already have the necessary venues in place, two years more than they had to get ready for 2002.
Wilson said, unlike many prior Olympic hosts that have abandoned costly competition venues, the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation has been a "much better steward" of the taxpayer dollars initially invested in the sliding track, ski jumps and speedskating oval.
While those and other Olympic venues will need to be "spruced up" before 2034, he said the Games can serve as a motivator to get Utahns to "do the right thing" when it comes to issues such as saving the Great Salt Lake and improving air quality.
"There are some risks we need to lean into and be willing to take," Wilson said, adding that Utahns should be able to look back at the lead-up to 2034 and say the community involvement "paid off big time."
Last week, organizers began a "listening tour" to find out what that involvement should look like. The private meetings, which started in Ogden, are expected to eventually be held throughout the state.
Wilson said the job of the organizing committee is "executing the Games and doing it flawlessly," something that will require 25,000 volunteers. They're set to be selected in 2033, he said, with preference given to those who've shown "a commitment to making our community better."
Envision Utah interim CEO Jason Brown said the nonprofit organization focused on planning for the state's growth can play a role in a second "era of transformation," helping to determine what progress can be made on priorities like housing, transportation, water and education.
Growing up, he said having an Olympics in Utah made him feel like he lived in "the coolest place in the world."
When the Olympics return in 2034, "it's going to be a great time. I'm really excited for the Games themselves," Brown said. "But what I really hope we don't miss is this opportunity, this excuse, this chance and reason to make Utah everything that we really hope that Utah can be."
