Salt Lake City's success winning the U.S. bid to host the 1998 Olympics comes at the expense Anchorage, Alaska, which formerly held the honor of carrying the nation's Olympic flag.
And while Salt Lake Olympics backers jumped for joy in the halls of a Des Moines hotel after learning the U.S. Olympic Committee had chosen Utah as its candidate for the Games, organizers from other cities broke down and wept."It's like running the perfect race and losing," said Rick Mystrom, of the Anchorage Organizing Committee, who delivered an impassioned plea for the Games to the USOC on behalf of Anchorage.
Anchorage had the U.S. bid for the 1992 and 1994 Winter Games - both of which it lost to European cities in bidding before the International Olympic Committee.
Anchorage invested $6 million and untold hours in those two bids - some of which went to hosting amateur sporting events and catering to USOC delegates visiting the city.
"I'm very sorry for the people of Anchorage," Mystrom said, saying that defeat will weigh heavily on the shoulders of many Alaskans who had the same Olympic aspirations Utah organizers held in their hearts.
Anchorage's Olympics demise came in the wake of a decision by the USOC, which stood by the city for two previous Olympic bids, to place more emphasis on training facilities located in the continental United States.
"We have to do what's in the best interest of the athletes," USOC President Robert Helmick said when asked if the USOC abandoned the nation's northernmost state.
Other bidding cities were equally dismayed with their failure to bring home an Olympics bid from the Hawkeye state.
"I'm very disappointed. I still feel we put together a very good bid package," said Bob Cashell of the Reno-Tahoe Winter Games Organizing Committee. Reno-Tahoe, which also bid unsuccessfully in 1985 to be the American standard bearer for the 1992 Winter Games, offered $80 million in public financing for the Olympics this time around.
Denver organizers apparently garnered little support from the USOC, which eliminated the city from the bid process after one ballot, casting a majority for Salt Lake City on a second vote.
Denver's poor showing is partly attributable to the dispersed nature of their proposed Olympic venues (ski jumping would have been held 160 miles from Denver) Helmick said. Helmick said Denver's defeat of an Olympics referendum in 1972 played a small role in their rejection.
The Denver organizers will still pursue Olympics sporting events. "We see the opportunity to continue a number of events in Olympic sports," said the Denver Organizing Committee's Roger Ogden.
And Colorado Gov. Roy Romer pledged the state's support for Utah's bid "any way we can" saying as neighboring states, Utah and Colorado share common interests in the Olympics coming to the American West.