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It's no surprise that Utah has been named host for the 2034 Winter Olympics because no other location had applied. But that didn't stop people in the state from celebrating the return of the Games to Utah. They were first held there back in 2002. The announcement, though, did have an unexpected twist, as Pamela McCall with member station KUER reports.
PAMELA MCCALL, BYLINE: In the pre-dawn hours of Wednesday morning, the news from the International Olympic Committee in Paris was beamed into a downtown square in Salt Lake City, where about 2,000 people were waiting, and it was met with wild cheers.
OLIVIA BLACKHAM: We got it. The Olympics are coming to Utah.
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MCCALL: Olivia Blackham from Salt Lake City was wearing head-to-toe red, white and blue, including shiny pom-poms in her hair and a slash of red lipstick when she squealed with delight. Calee Quiel (ph) from Salt Lake City was also in the square packed with Games supporters. She sported a Roots beret from the 2002 Olympics and a volunteer's vest she bought on Ebay.
CALEE QUIEL: I am so excited. I was 11 years old when this came through in 2002, and I cannot wait for my kids to be the same age that I was when this happens again.
MCCALL: Fireworks lit up the morning sky, in part because it was also a state holiday in Utah called Pioneer Day. It marks the Latter-day Saints leader Brigham Young and his followers arriving in Utah in 1847 after an arduous overland journey. The road to hosting the Olympics in Utah has been fraught with challenges too, even though Utah was the only location in the running for the 2034 Winter Games. A bribery scandal in 2002 almost derailed those games, and a new one has emerged.
HOWARD BERKES: At the 11th hour, the International Olympic Committee strong-armed Utah Olympic boosters into promising to back the IOC's World Anti-Doping Agency in its dispute with its U.S. counterpart.
MCCALL: Retired NPR Olympics correspondent Howard Berkes.
BERKES: This is over the decision to allow Chinese swimmers who have failed doping tests already to compete in Paris.
MCCALL: Utah Governor Spencer Cox, in Paris from the announcement, said action will be taken to comply with IOC demands.
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SPENCER COX: We'll work very closely with the Department of Justice. We'll work with the Senate. We'll work with the Biden administration and whatever the next administration is so that we can get a comfort level in what we're going to do to work together.
MCCALL: Howard Berkes says Utah may have buckled to IOC demands out of fear of not being awarded the Games.
BERKES: Normally, the Games are awarded to bidding cities seven years in advance of an Olympics. Now, we're 10 years out. So Utah Olympic bidders could have been worried about the IOC ditching the naming of a 2034 host now and opting instead to take as much as three more years to pressure another city or country into hosting these Winter Games.
MCCALL: But the latest scandal has not dampened the spirits of Utahns keen to host the Olympics again, and it did not rain on the Pioneer Day parade, either.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: And happy Pioneer Day, too. Of course, the parade...
MCCALL: Nancy Chappel watched as it wended its way through downtown Salt Lake City just a few hours after Utah was officially awarded the Games.
NANCY CHAPPEL: It's just the energy that came to Utah back then - it's going to be even greater, I think, this time around.
MCCALL: An Olympic float passed by while the flame from the newly lit Olympic cauldron flickered from a nearby stadium.
For NPR News, I'm Pamela McCall in Salt Lake City. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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