Winter Olympics could be back in our neighborhood as Salt Lake City bid advances

Idahoans got a taste of the Winter Olympics during the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City.

That could happen again by 2030.

Salt Lake City beat out Denver on Friday as the U.S. Olympic Committee’s choice for a future Winter Olympics bid. That is likely to focus on 2030, two years after the U.S. hosts the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

The 2002 Winter Olympics brought athletes to Idaho to train — the Slovakia men’s hockey team practiced in Boise, while nearly 200 Nordic skiers, figure skaters, alpine skiers, biathletes and snowboarders made stops in Sun Valley. The U.S. women’s hockey team played an exhibition game against China and the Slovakia men played Switzerland, both in Boise.

The women’s hockey exhibition on Jan. 26, 2002, drew a boisterous, standing-room-only crowd of 5,521 to what is now called CenturyLink Arena in Downtown Boise.

“Our team equaled the crowd,” Team USA coach Ben Smith said that night. “The crowd, I thought, was the highlight of the game.”

Meanwhile, many Idahoans made the relatively quick trip to Salt Lake City to become Olympic spectators.

The Winter Olympics haven’t been in the U.S. since 2002. By 2030, the U.S. will have hosted just once in the 50 years since the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y.

“The United States is committed to hosting Games that are both remarkable and practical, and we believe that Salt Lake City is the community most capable of delivering against that promise,” U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Sarah Hirshland. “This exploration process was a unique opportunity for the USOC to develop even stronger partnerships with each city and state and all involved will continue to play a critical role in our winter athletes’ success.”

This story was originally published December 14, 2018 at 5:14 PM.