Another Olympic Odyssey? Pursuing the 2030 Olympic Winter Games is about our children.

AuthorGochnour, Natalie
PositionEconmic Insight - Guest commentary

All of us have memories of when the Olympic movement first touched our lives. Mine was in 1986 when Tom Welch, then in charge of Utah's Olympic bid, called the governor's planning office, and I picked up the phone. He was calling from an airport payphone, on his way home from a United States Olympic Committee (USOC) meeting. The USOC had decided to drop Anchorage, Alaska, as the U.S. bid city and open up the competition to others.

Tom wanted to know if he could count on the economists in the governor's office to help prepare Salt Lake City's bid. This phone call started a 32-year connection for me with Utah's Olympic movement that continues today.

I think of this connection as an odyssey--a long, eventful and impactful journey. I helped with the original spreadsheets that calculated the revenue impact of diverting sales taxes to pay for construction of Olympic venues. I assisted with the estimates about the economic impact of hosting the Games. These technical tasks continued to crescendo to more meaningful experiences, as I moved from an analyst to a leader. By the time we hosted the games, I was serving on the governor's senior team and as Gov. Michael Leavitt's spokesperson. Today, I serve on the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation Board.

The journey has been filled with positive memories. I traveled to Greece with an official state delegation to witness the start of the torch relay. I visited U.S. cities as the torch relay made its way to Utah, and I hiked to Delicate Arch the morning the Today Show on NBC spotlighted the arrival of the flame to Utah. I'll never forget the imagery: a freestanding arch, the snow-capped La Sal Mountains in the background, a TV helicopter in the air, and a Native American chief passing the flame from his torch to his granddaughter's. The flame represents the indomitable will of the Olympic athletes. For all of us, it speaks to our own sense of enduring life's challenges well.

I traveled to Washington, DC, after the tragedy of 9/11 to help secure additional security funding for our state and witnessed the concern of all involved. I stood in the Utah State Capitol the morning of Opening Ceremony and listened to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing the Battle Hymn of the Republic after a moving speech by Pres. George W. Bush. Tears filled my eyes.

I sat in Rice Eccles Stadium for Opening Ceremony, glowing with pride as more than a billion people around the world focused on my hometown. During the games I helped with...

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