Utah not only will supply tourists to Vancouver but will be a competitor pipeline as well.

With its Olympic venues in Park City and Kearns, the state will play a key role for national and international athletes gearing up for gold-medal runs in 2010. Of the 200 U.S. athletes who competed in the 2006 Torino Games, 66 trained in the Beehive State.

"The interesting dynamic is us being, if you will, a stopping point on the way to Vancouver," said Colin Hilton, president of the Utah Athletic Foundation, which manages the state's Olympic facilities.

World Cup events in long- and short-track speedskating, freestyle skiing and bobsled and skeleton are planned for both 2008 and 2009.

Also, teams from around the world will create home bases in Utah in early 2010 to practice and make final preparations for the games, Hilton said.

Utah also has other connections to Vancouver.

Hilton estimates at least two dozen people who helped stage the Salt Lake Olympics work as consultants for the Vancouver Organizing Committee.

Fraser Bullock, former SLOC chief operating officer, serves on the International Olympic Committee's coordination commission, which keeps tabs on venue preparations. Also, former SLOC director of sport Cathy Priestner Allinger works as an executive vice president for VANOC.

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