Think twice before another Olympic leap

I have a vivid memory from my reckless teenage years of standing on the edge of a cliff near a river in Arizona, looking at a pool of water below.

At that age, the desire for acceptance could outweigh rational thought. Some of my friends already had leaped and survived, so I ignored the drumbeat warnings from my heart, took a running start and hurled myself into blue sky.

It seemed like a 100-foot drop, although in reality it probably was little more than 20 feet. But the fall filled my lungs with a rush of emotions, the splash was an exhilarating seizure of cold water and the feeling I had upon safely reaching the surface was pure relief and satisfaction.

I did not want to try it again.

Which brings me to the subject of whether Utah once again should bid to host the Winter Olympics. Let's not rush into anything.

Gov. Gary Herbert announced last week he was forming a committee to explore the idea of maybe shooting for the 2022 games.

Ten years have passed. The Olympic Cauldron was relit last week at the University of Utah. For many Utahns, pleasant memories returned of relationships forged, victories that inspired the world and lots of positive press.

Even Mitt Romney got in on the act, Tweeting about how "delighted" he was to know the state is thinking of trying again.

That's how memories are. We tend to dwell on the euphoric moment when we successfully swam to the surface. We forget about the heart-pounding uncertainty as we were taking the leap.

The committee should think long and hard before committing to another leap.

Six years ago public officials first started talking about perhaps doing it all over again. Back then I compared it to longing for World War II just because we remember the celebrations on the day it ended.

That was a bit of a stretch, of course. No one launched a blitzkrieg or dropped an atomic bomb here. But it's easy to look at triumphant moments in history and forget that they weren't inevitable. We could have been remembered as the Lehman Brothers of Olympic disasters.

The bid scandal always comes to mind, of course. But truthfully, that was a bit of trumped up nonsense by the Justice Department — more a reflection on the International Olympic Committee than Salt Lake organizers. A repeat of those worries is not likely.