Written by Carly Bagley, public historian, and Monique Davila, community engagement coordinator, for Utah Historical Society.
In 2024, the International Olympic Committee announced that Utah would once again host the Winter Olympics in 2034. While some Utahns celebrate this announcement, others may be indifferent or even concerned about the event’s potential impacts.Yet, for many, the announcement brings back memories of the 2002 Winter Olympics, a landmark event that left a lasting legacy on the state.
The 2002 Winter Olympics marked a significant milestone for Utah, introducing new sporting venues, boosting tourism, and establishing Park City as a premier destination for winter sports training. These successes, along with Utah’s unique cultural and geographic attributes, contributed to its successful bid for the 2034 Games. What made the 2002 Winter Olympics truly special?
Courtland Nelson, a long-time Heber Valley resident and former state park director, shared his perspectives with Carly Bagley, public historian for the Utah Historical Society, at a community history event in Heber City on November 16, 2023.
Nelson’s oral history highlights the community’s enthusiasm and involvement, the unique cultural aspects integrated into the 2002 Winter Olympics, and the importance of preserving natural landscapes like the Wasatch Mountain State Park. He also discussed the challenges and opportunities of hosting the 2034 Winter Olympics, emphasizing the need for careful planning, community engagement, and sustainable infrastructure development.
According to Nelson, two key factors contributed to Utah’s success in hosting the 2002 Winter Olympics. First, Nelson highlighted the community’s enthusiastic embrace of the Olympic spirit. “Heber Valley was probably a little more than half the population that it is now,” he recalled. “But the businesses downtown, the volunteers, everybody (with a few opponents) were very excited about [being] a part of this never before type of event.”
Nelson recalled his trip to Nagano, Japan, with a few colleagues and county officials during the 1998 Winter Olympics to understand what Utah needed to do to have a successful event.
During this trip, Nelson learned “that people around the world want to know about the western United States.” With this in mind, the 2002 Winter Olympics committee delivered. A large plot of land that led to the competition site was reserved for engaging cultural activities. The Winter Olympics committee “brought in the [Ute Indian Tribe] who came over from Duchesne and Roosevelt, and did presentations, and were in their traditional garb, and did music, and did evening entertainment…We brought up bison from Antelope Island and had them in a corral…We had entertainment. We had beautiful music. We had fun activities for [youth] and for seniors…And we had Western food. It was just unbelievably successful.”
Second, Nelson believes the 2002 Winter Olympics success “has everything to do with the language that is learned by [The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints] missionaries when they go around the world.” Latter-day Saints in Utah who served religious missions abroad developed language skills and cultural knowledge that made them exceptional hosts for international visitors. Numerous Utahns hosted Olympic athletes, their families, and visitors where they could connect over common language and culture.
Bagley asked Nelson what he thought about Utah potentially hosting the Winter Olympics again. Nelson, who serves on the Olympic Legacy Foundation, is in favor, but believes Utah needs to consider better infrastructure, more housing, and easier commuting options. “We can’t just build a road for the Olympics. And we can’t do things, like housing, that are just for the Olympics…We’re not going to be bearing the brunt of building, you know, 500 new apartments for three weeks [of the] Olympics. That’s got to start for other reasons…So you got to figure all that out.”
Even so, Nelson shared that “in some ways it’s the same set of circumstances. I would say relative to what’s happening here in Heber Valley, we’re getting a lot of people who are moving in. And they don’t want to hear about the 2002 games, they want to be preparing for their own story.”
To learn more about Courtland Nelson, listen or read his oral history here.
Through the Peoples of Utah Revisited initiative, the Utah Historical Society seeks to widen the lens on Utah’s history and tell the story of all Utahns, past and present. Dedicated efforts to collect, preserve, and share Utah history help expand UHS’s digital collections, scholarship, and community relationships. Through various engagement opportunities and building new relationships since January 2023, UHS has conducted more than 50 oral history interviews and digitized 1,000+ historical materials that share new or untold Utah stories. Are you interested in preserving and sharing your history? Please visit the Peoples of Utah Revisited website for more information.