Torino joins the 'sorority'

For Utahns, reports coming out of Torino, Italy, should trigger a wave of nostalgia. As host for the 2006 Winter Olympics, Torino is dealing with many of the same frustrations and fond moments embedded in local memory. More than a few recollections from 2002 are resonating.

In Utah, recall, locals got prickly when Woody Paige of the Denver Post lambasted Salt Lake City for being a cow-town out of its league. Other journalists felt Utahns cared too much about its image.

In Torino, the locals are fending off accusations they don't care enough. Reporters have filed stories saying the city doesn't seem to have tipped to the fact the Olympics are in town. Television interviews with citizens show Italians in a snit over their city being denigrated by outsiders. Salt Lakers sit back and smile.

Salt Lake City had the LDS temple in 2002.

Torino has "The Shroud" in 2006.

The Salt Lake City Games had some judging irregularities, disappointed losers and a good many Cinderella winners. Torino, too, will undoubtedly have its share of hardships and high-fives. The two towns may not be official "sister cities," but they now belong to a tony sorority — a sisterhood with a mere handful of members: cities that have hosted the Olympic Games.

It's a distinction worth crowing about.

Not everyone would agree, of course. Some people see all the shenanigans, overt jingoism and the zeal run amok in the games and wonder if the competition is really worth it. Such souls are likely the same ones who wonder if the United Nations has any value.

Our position is that both do. As the world's nations push and pull for power, splinter into cliques and move farther apart on issues, the Olympic Games remains a pool of goodwill on a global scale. Not every country may put its heart into the camaraderie, but when the citizens of the world display an array of flags at the opening and closing ceremonies and each medal venue, the visual image of people coming together is enough to stir the heart to optimism. During the Olympic Games, it seems cooperation and mutual respect may indeed be possible on a global scale. If not now, then someday.

That will remain the legacy — and mission — of the Olympics: to foster hope.

And as two of the cities who have put their all into that effort, Salt Lake City and Torino can stand proudly shoulder to shoulder on the medal stand as true winners.