How Utah's first Olympics helped the world heal after 9/11

SALT LAKE CITY — Perhaps the most enduring moment of Utah's first Olympics came when a tattered American flag that survived the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on New York City's World Trade Center was solemnly carried onto the field of a silent Rice-Eccles Stadium audience.

With several billion more people around the world watching on TV, U.S. athletes held the flag aloft, and first responders from New York City stood at attention as what's now called The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square performed "The Star-Spangled Banner."

The unforgettable scene at the start of the 2002 Winter Games represented the nation's resilience in the face of the deaths of nearly 3,000 people in New York City, the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., and a field in Pennsylvania at the hands of terrorists.

"It was a profound moment of reverence," recalled Fraser Bullock, who served as chief operating officer of those Games and is now the president and executive chair of Utah's Organizing Committee for the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

"The hush from the 55,000 gathered was deeply moving," Bullock said. "It seemed like the flag focused us on the immense loss of those who perished, while also feeling the entire world was together in a moment of healing."

But a quarter century after 9/11, a new generation of adults are too young to have experienced the deadly day, or how only a few months later, Utah helped the world come together at what was the first major international event held after the attacks.

That includes members of the organizing committee. Retired Olympic speedskater Julie Letai, who was named athlete experience coordinator in June, was just over a year old on Sept. 11, 2001.

Her memories of that day come from what she's heard over the years from older friends and family members in Boston, where two of the four planes used in the attacks had departed from before being hijacked.

"I remember my mom telling me that apparently I was with her, but we were just sitting on the living room floor with the TV on, hearing what was happening," Letai said, adding that only later, "as a kid learning about it, it was scary."

She competed in short-track speedskating at two Olympics, in 2022 in Beijing, and this year in Milan Cortina, Italy. But Letai didn't know much about the role Utah's 2002 Winter Games played in the aftermath of 9/11.

That changed recently when she heard fellow Olympic speedskater Derek Parra recount what it was like to be among the Team USA members who brought the flag recovered from ground zero into the University of Utah stadium.

Parra, a longtime motivational speaker who manages sports programs at the Utah Olympic Oval skating venue in Kearns, won silver and gold in 2002 as the first Mexican American skater to medal in a Winter Games.

He often moves his audiences to tears by describing how a sudden gust of wind pulling at the flag seemed to embody the spirits of the victims of 9/11, a presence that stayed with him throughout the Olympics, on and off the ice.

"Everyone in that stadium, if not the world, was feeling, I think, the same emotion. It was as if time stood still," Parra said in 2011, the 10th anniversary of 9/11. "The world stopped to watch that flag. We were all affected."

Letai said she'd seen images from the Feb. 8, 2002, opening ceremonies over the years and had known about Parra's participation. Hearing him talk about it at an organizing committee event shortly before she was hired, though, was different.

"What resonated with me was the emotion that I saw come across his face," she said. "Seeing how emotional he got talking about it and reliving that moment, again instills the impact of what 9/11 had."

But it also helped her understand what it's been like for those who lived through the day, "the despair, but also the rebuilding," Letai said, giving her a new perspective on what the flag's appearance at the 2002 Games did for the world then.

"It made me think about another level of meaning that the Olympics has," she said, adding "it was clear that opening ceremonies, that Olympics, that the U.S. was hosting it after the recent events, just showed this greater depth."

Members of that year's U.S. Olympic team, "were representing their country that more than ever, they wanted to show pride for," Letai said, offering still struggling Americans "people to root for and a distraction, and also motivation and hope."

That extended to the world, she's come to realize, citing "the fact that you could tell there was universal respect for that moment from all the countries. I think that's the most beautiful thing about the Olympics. As far as I know, it's the most unifying event that exists."

The inclusion of the ground zero flag was not without controversy. The International Olympic Committee rejected a request that Team USA carry the flag into the stadium during the traditional parade of nations, raising concerns about setting a potentially political precedent.

What the world saw in Salt Lake City was the result of a compromise reached just two days before the opening ceremonies. Amid sentiment that the Games were too "pro-American," organizers said victims including citizens from more than 90 countries were being recognized.

At a dress rehearsal, a white sheet used in place of the delicate flag was met with cheers from the largely local audience. The silent, respectful reaction at the actual ceremonies came as a welcome surprise.

"The moment far exceeded our expectations," Bullock said, calling it "highly emotional" for him. "Looking back, this moment with the flag reminds us of the power of the Games to unify our communities, our country and the world."

That's something organizers promise to never forget as the state prepares to host another Olympics. Their lesson from 9/11 was not just to be ready for the unthinkable, but to embrace the ability to be a force for good.

"Whether or not there is something challenging in the world occurring around 2034, we can use the power of the Games to have a positive impact," Bullock said. "The Games are a platform for bringing unity to a world that's in desperate need of it."

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