Courtesy Provo City
Provo Mayor Michelle Kaufusi
The last few weeks have been a time of great excitement here, centered on the Olympics past, present and future. Let me try to help you experience (or relive) some of that excitement.
On the evening of the 24th of July, we gathered at Provo City’s Olympic venue, the Peaks Ice Arena, to celebrate the announcement that day that the Winter Olympic games would be returning to Utah in 2034. The public was able to skate at no charge that evening. Then we all gathered outside to watch an Olympian, Provo native Steven Nyman, who is also a three-time World Cup champion, ceremoniously raise the flag for us. During the national anthem, sung by Madelyn Paige from The Voice and her sister Cassidy, a giant American flag dropped along the side of the building and a fireworks show began. It was thrilling.
The Peaks Ice Arena hosted Olympic ice hockey events during the 2002 games and will host Olympic events again in 2034. We can all be proud that this valley counts an Olympic venue as one of the jewels in its crown. If you’ve never been in the Peaks Ice Arena or if it has been a while, why not stop by sometime? You’ll see impressive visual reminders of the arena’s Olympic glory and you can skate on Olympic ice!
Although the Peaks Ice Arena is the only Olympic venue in Utah County, local elected officials from various parts of the county have recently joined a task force to help prepare for the upcoming games and to explore the possibility of other venues here in the future.
By the way, members of the International Olympic Committee recently joined me to tour the Peaks Ice Arena, and they were impressed. They were able to see kids playing ice hockey on one of the ice sheets and figure skaters practicing on the other. At a later event, they praised our arena as a top example of a venue that has successfully emerged from its Olympic use to community use.
While several Utah Olympic venues are supported by a legacy endowment, our ice arena is not. Instead, our Provo City team has managed to turn it into a self-sustaining operation that does not require us to spend our tax dollars on it. Thank you to all our team members and to all of you from around this county and beyond who come and enjoy the venue. Because of you, we are a model to the world.
Of course, the Olympic excitement did not end with the announcement party.
The 2024 Olympics in Paris were historic for us here in Utah Valley. Brigham Young University had a record nine current or former students compete, with Kenneth Rooks emerging as a rock star with his exciting silver medal finish in steeplechase. Before the Olympics, Rooks had tumbled to the ground in the NCAA championships and then amazingly got up and managed to win. If you haven’t watched those two runs of his, which are available online, they are definitely worth your time. And I thought it was very cool that my alma mater, Provo High, had an alum, Maka Unufe, competing for Team USA in Rugby Sevens.
So, yes, it’s been a great few weeks. And we have exciting times ahead. According to the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, the population of this valley will double from the time of the 2002 Olympics to the 2034 Olympics. So there is more change ahead for all of us. We should all engage to help shape that future, with an eye toward welcoming the world and showcasing our amazing communities in less than 10 years when the torch arrives and the 2034 Olympic games begin!
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Publish date : 2024-08-16 13:00:00
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