Utah's Olympic moment: reflecting upon lessons learned during the games.

• Author: Gochnour, Natalie
• Position: Economic Insight

"Not everybody gets the chance to skate the performance of their life" That was U.S. figure skater Sarah Huehes's summary of how she had catapulted from fourth place to Olympic gold at the Delta Center on the last night of the figure skating competition. Her performance and that statement captured a moment of greatness that mirrored Utah's experience in hosting the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. We hosted the world and excelled. It was our Olympic moment, and most of us will never forget it.

This month we commemorate the 10-year anniversary of this global achievement. The caldron will be relit, Sarah Hughes will return to the ice and Mitt Romney will take a detour from his presidential campaign to celebrate with us. Most importantly, the state has formed an exploratory committee to consider another bid. Its Olympic-mania this month, and we would be wise to take a pause, capture our enthusiasm in a bottle and reflect upon the lessons learned during this monumental experience.

I experienced the Olympics from the vantage point of a governor's spokesperson. Fully credentialed and working 16-hour days, I moved from event to event, country home to country home, athletes' village to media center and points in between. Here's a short collection of a few of my favorite Olympic experiences and the lessons I learned:

American greatness. The opening ceremony was historic--but not because of its artistic beauty or incredible execution, though it had both. It was historic because less than four months after 9/11 the peace-loving world gathered for the first time to celebrate human achievement. A live crowd of 50,000 people and a worldwide viewing audience of more than two billion people watched as Derek Para and seven other handpicked members of the U.S. Olympic Team carried in a tattered U.S. flag from the World Trade Center. The crowd fell dead silent, our hearts beat as one and we united as a people. I learned that one of America's greatest assets is our unity. It's a powerful force with unlimited possibilities.

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Economic intangibles. I worked with a team of professionals to help quantify the economic impact of the Games to our state. We considered the new money that flowed into Utah and then calculated the impact on sales, earnings and employment. These are useful measures, but they miss the mark. The economic value of Utah's Olympics is best expressed through the intangibles - how we got better as a people, how we gained confidence...