The International Olympic Committee in July is widely expected to award the 2034 Winter Olympics to Salt Lake City during meetings in Paris on the eve of the opening of the Summer Olympics in the French capital.
Park City Mayor Nann Worel and Malena Stevens, the chair of the Summit County Council, plan to be there when the announcement is made. They both are planning to remain in France for the first days of the Games as well.
Their trips will ensure City Hall and the County Courthouse are represented on what will be a momentous day for the community with Park City and surrounding Summit County crucial to the overall concept of a second Games in the state, similar to the role they played during the Winter Olympics in 2002.
The two, though, see the trip as having broader goals than the ceremonial roles they may play as the Games are awarded, which is expected on July 24. Worel and Stevens each said they intend to use the trip as an early fact-finding mission with the governments in Park City and Summit County likely to expand their Winter Olympic efforts after the selection of Salt Lake City. Worel and Stevens each have key roles in the relationship between their respective governments and the committee mounting the bid.
Worel is scheduled to leave July 20 and return July 29. She has never attended a Summer Olympics or a Winter Olympics.
“I’m truly honored to be part of the delegation from Utah,” she said, adding that she sees it as “super-important that we are represented in Paris.”
The itinerary while in France had not been set by early in the week. Worel, though, said she wants to “experience what visitors do,” meaning she wants to learn about the how the typical spectator navigates the Games. The mayor said some of the trip costs will be self-funded, while others will be at taxpayers’ expense.
Stevens is traveling from July 20 until July 30. She has also never been to an Olympics. The County Courthouse is funding the trip with taxpayer money.
“What can we learn? What are the things that are working well. … What are the things that are not working,” she said.
Stevens said the Games transit system is of interest to her and she wants to learn about the work with outlying competition venues, such as how the transportation system was designed. She said she wants to visit “more remote” venues. Stevens said she understands the itinerary may include studying the logistical aspects of basketball competitions outside of Paris.
“How they’re interacting with the main venue?” she said. “How are venues going to coordinate?”
Stevens also sees the trip as an opportunity to ensure Summit County leaders continue to “remain actively engaged in Olympic preparations” and “preserve their seat at the table” regarding Games planning.
There are likely some commonalities between the outlying venues that will be operating during the Summer Olympics in the Paris region and the role Park City would play in a second Games. Transportation is required outside the host city, and the outlying places must define their role amid the wider Olympics, as examples.
Park City officials traveled extensively in the years before the Winter Olympics in 2002, when the community was also a key to the overall Games. Park City officials are not believed to have traveled to an Olympics at the expense of taxpayers since the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.
The trip to Paris may be the first in a series of Olympic-related missions for City Hall and the County Courthouse in coming years should the event in 2034 be awarded to the state. There will be two additional Summer Olympics — 2028 in Los Angeles and 2032 in Brisbane, Australia — prior to 2034 and two Winter Olympics before then — 2026 in Milan, Italy, and the Games of 2030, likely in the Provence, the Alps and the Côte d’Azur regions of France. The 2030 event is expected to be awarded to the French bid during the upcoming IOC meetings.