‘We’re back, baby!’: Utah reacts to winning 2034 Winter Olympic Games

SALT LAKE CITY ( ABC4 ) — Utah Gov. Spencer Cox may have summed up Utah’s excitement for the 2034 Olympic Games the best, saying in front of the International Olympic Committee crowd in Paris, France: “We’re back, baby!”

Salt Lake City was awarded the Games in an overwhelming vote of 83-6.

“We’ve been working on this for so long. This has been a dream now since 2002 ended, that someday the Olympics would come back,” Cox told ABC4.com in an interview after the announcement. “When the final totals came and we heard that being read, it was almost surreal to know that we are a part of history and the Olympics are finally coming home.”

Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall told ABC4.com the Utah delegation in Paris couldn’t help but celebrate.

“There was jumping, hugging, tears, fulfillment, humility, and I’m thinking about all the people back home,” she said.

Over 5,000 miles away, back in Utah, thousands of people joined in the celebrations. They gathered around Washington Square in downtown Salt Lake City and erupted in cheers and chants as the IOC made its announcement. Cox said they could feel the excitement in Paris.

One person in the Salt Lake City crowd told ABC4.com he was at a loss for words.

“I don’t even know what to think,” he said. “Winter Olympics? Big fan. Big, big fan. And in Utah? Nowhere better.”

Fraser Bullock, the president of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Olympic Games, said the announcement came as a bit of a relief with the bid finally over. But it also came with a level of happiness and joy for Utah as the Beehive State was awarded another opportunity to be showcased on a world stage.

While there is plenty of reason to celebrate, Utah leaders were quick to point out that there is still a lot of work to do over the next 10 years.

“Salt Lake City is growing anyway,” said Mendenhall. “We are addressing climate change and the impacts on our community. We are doubling our downtown population. We need to improve our quality of life. We want to make a pedestrian main street. We want to build a green loop around the downtown core. We want a medal plaza that doesn’t go away after the games are over. These are things that are going to benefit Utahns for generations.”

“I’ve never been to an Olympic event. Tomorrow, I get to do that for the first time. I get to see the Opening Ceremonies. Which will help us in our planning,” explained Cox. “We’re here to learn as much as anything else. To see what Paris is doing right with security, with traffic, all those things we need to do, we’re going to learn a lot of lessons this time and also be able to help in California and LA in 2028.”

Bullock said Salt Lake City has an advantage with all the needed venues already in place and in working order from the 2002 Winter Games. This opens up Olympic planners to focus the next 10 years on being “bigger and better” come 2034.

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