| Salt Lake City |
 |
 |
| GER |
12 |
16 |
7 |
35 |
 |
| USA |
10 |
13 |
11 |
34 |
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| NOR |
11 |
7 |
6 |
24 |
|
| CAN |
6 |
3 |
8 |
17 |
|
| RUS |
6 |
6 |
4 |
16 |
|
| AUT |
2 |
4 |
10 |
16 |
|
| ITA |
4 |
4 |
4 |
12 |
|
| FRA |
4 |
5 |
2 |
11 |
|
| SUI |
3 |
2 |
6 |
11 |
|
| NED |
3 |
5 |
0 |
8 |
|
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Utahns want Games again?
© Copyright 2002 Deseret News
By Dennis Romboy
Deseret News staff writer
The first Olympic puck has yet to be dropped. The first Olympic spectator has yet to be jammed for hours in traffic. The first Olympic rodeo protestor has yet to lie down in front of a Brahma bull.
But from what they have seen so far, nearly two-thirds of Utahns wouldn't mind Salt Lake City hosting the Winter Games again.
Mitt Romney, Salt Lake Organizing Committee president, finds that "amazing" and said "I sure hope they feel that way after another 30 days."
A Deseret News/KSL conducted Wednesday by Dan Jones & Associates found 63 percent of residents statewide definitely or probably favor the city taking on the Olympics again, should opportunity arise.
Only 33 percent definitely or probably oppose a repeat.
Jones surveyed 408 Utahns on Feb. 6. The poll has a plus or minus 6 percent margin of error.
"That's an incredible statistic since we don't yet know the final financial outcome of the Games," said Randy Dryer, who headed the Utah Sports Authority, the state agency that built Utah Olympic Park near Park City and the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns.
Utah taxpayers ponied up $59 million for those venues, and there are critics who believe the Olympics will ultimately cost residents more. By SLOC's best estimates, the Games' $1.3 billion budget will break even.
Money concerns, for now, seem to have become swallowed in the excitement of the Olympic torch relay and the charm of international visitors in brightly colored parkas roaming downtown.
In the days — hours now — before opening ceremonies, optimism about the 2002 Salt Lake Games has taken off like an Apolo Ohno start.
The new poll shows 75 percent of respondents favor the Olympics in Utah, an all-time high dating back to October 1993 when venue construction made the Games more tangible though the city had yet to secure the bid. Only 18 percent don't want them, according to the survey.
Support dipped to a low of 53 percent in September 1997 following a summer of discontent that saw then-SLOC president Tom Welch resign in the wake of a domestic dispute with his now ex-wife.
Other officials also quit, citing immense job pressure.
The Games regained favor — hovering in the mid to high 60s — through November of last year.
West Jordan resident Susan Stephenson says here excitement level was "neutral" until recently.
"I'm enjoying it totally," she said as she headed to a downtown post office Thursday to mail some Olympic memorabilia to friends and relatives. "I think it's wonderful, the hustle and bustle of the city . . . It's like the city came alive."
Stephenson, no doubt, would be numbered among the 53 percent of residents in the Jones survey who are more excited to see the Games begin rather than see them end. Still, a large chunk, nearly 40 percent, would just soon make the entire affair disappear.
"I'm waiting for it to be over," said Mike Morris, who works at Deseret Book in the ZCMI Center. "It's a party for the wealthy."
Morris looked into buying tickets to some of the sporting events but found them way out of his price range. He said he can take his son snowboarding a couple of times for the cost of tickets. Money and political correctness soured his feelings about Utah staging the Olympics.
"The state had to sell its soul to get them here and has to give condoms away to keep them here," Morris groused.
The poll shows a whopping 83 percent of residents are confident Utah can pull off successful Games, while only 5 percent are skeptical.
But success will be in the eye of the beholder. The experience will differ from person to person. Traffic woes, potential money problems and how the $300 million security force does its job will be factors in how the Games will be judged.
And despite the Olympic roller coaster ride since Utah secured the Games in 1995 — the enormous financial cost, the inconvenience, the bid scandal — 74 percent of Utahns now believe the next two weeks will be worth it, according to the poll. Twenty-two percent think otherwise.
The legacy the Games leave behind, including the winter sports venues, will make the effort and inconvenience worthwhile, Romney said.
It will likely be decades, if ever, that the state stages the Olympics again. But like Innsbruck, Austria — a two-time Winter Games host — Romney said, "I think Salt Lake City will always be ready."
E-mail: romboy@desnews.com
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February 8, 2002
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