Youth games a regular event?

The winter portion of the Moscow-Utah Youth Games hasn't even taken place yet, but officials already are trying to figure out how to make the games a regular event.

"This is in the embryonic stages," Utah Sports Commission president Jeff Robbins said in a meeting with the Deseret Morning News editorial board Monday. "Even if the games don't continue at this magnitude, we hope to take over (for example) a baseball team or a basketball team."

Vancouver, B.C., and Beijing, China, have expressed interest in becoming part of the athletic exchange between Moscow and Utah. About 250 Utah high school athletes and coaches traveled to Moscow in July for the summer portion, and Moscow will return the favor next month, sending athletes and coaches to Utah for the winter portion.

If other cities get involved, the exchange could conceivably take place every few years with Utah athletes traveling to different places and, when it came Utah's turn, athletes from several countries coming here.

"After the games, Olene (Utah Gov. Olene Walker) and Yuri (Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov) will collaborate on where we go from here," said Dave Winder, the governor's assistant for special projects.

The winter portion of the games will take place from Jan. 30 to Feb. 7, mostly in Olympic venues from Provo to Ogden. Opening and closing ceremonies will be at Cauldron Park at Rice-Eccles Stadium, where the Olympic cauldron will be lit for the games' duration.

Mike Leavitt's appointment as EPA director had posed a potential snag in the plans. He and Luzhkov had thought up the idea of the youth games during the 2002 Winter Olympics, and he was heavily involved in their organization and realization in Moscow.

Walker made a three-day trip to Moscow in August, well before she officially became governor, to assure Luzhkov that she was just as committed to the games as Leavitt was.

Sports events during the games, including speedskating, skiing, hockey and other winter sports, will be free and open to the public. Organizers are now finalizing the schedule of events.

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