Utahns get pinned by Sion - a bunch of good losersBUDAPEST - While Salt Lake City's competitors for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games played it close to the vest when it came to acknowledging the Utah capital as the prohibitive favorite leading up to Friday's vote, at least one tipped its hand when the balloting was finished.
As soon as it was announced that Salt Lake City had won the bid, representatives from the Sion, Switzerland, delegation, approached Utah delegates and presented them with Sion bid pins.
Inscribed below "Sion 2002" were the words "Congratulations, Salt Lake City."
Former University of Utah President Chase Peterson and his wife, Grethe, members of the Utah delegation supporting the Salt Lake Bid Committee, were among the first to be presented the pins.
"We were walking into the convention center and they shook our hands and gave them to us," said Chase Peterson. "It wasn't until we got inside that we noticed the inscription at the bottom. That's very gracious of them."
Also very perceptive.
S.L. changes its tune
Within minutes of winning the 2002 Winter Olympics Games, volunteers at the Salt Lake Bid Committee office were adapting to their new status.
They answered telephones with the greeting, "Organizing Committee." Within hours, callers placed on hold heard messages from the "Organizing Committee" thanking supporters and volunteers for backing the bid.
"It feels silly to say `bid committee' now," said Jeri Cartwright of the Salt Lake Convention and Visitors Bureau.
No time was wasted changing the sign at the corner of 400 South and State Street. By 2 p.m. Friday, workers were busily changing it to read "Salt Lake City 2002." No need for a countdown anymore.
2002 forints - an omen
You'd have had a hard time convincing another member of the Utah support delegation, Bud Mahas of Salt Lake City, that his experience in a Budapest public restroom wasn't an omen of things to come.
On Thursday, the day before the vote for the Winter Games of 2002, Mahas was about to tip a restroom worker in the downtown area when he happened to count his Hungarian money. He realized he had 2002 forints.
"No way I was parting with that sum," said Mahas. "As soon as I counted it I thought, we've got it in our pocket. I'll never spend that money now," said Mahas, who owns Mahas Construction in Salt Lake City. "I'm going to have it framed and hang it in my office."
`Boy, that was a dud!'
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, spoke for all of the state's Olympic boosters when he summed up his feelings four years ago after Salt Lake City lost the 1998 Winter Games to Nagano, Japan.
"Boy, that was a dud," the senator said.
No pressure, no hype
Chiharu Igaya, an IOC member from Japan, hinted at a Salt Lake victory in an interview Thursday. "I was right," he said Friday. "Everything was in your favor."
Including Salt Lake City's relationship with IOC members. "You had worked very hard," Igaya said. "You were (also) very low-key. Many IOC members don't like to be pushed around."
Virginian hitches a ride
The Salt Lake Olympic bandwagon stopped in Washington, D.C., long enough on Friday to pick up Sen. John Warner, R-Va.
After learning that Utah had won the 2002 Winter Games, Warner, who skis in Utah every year, congratulated the state saying, "It's a wonderful place to host the world . . . the quantity and quality of snow in your state is unsurpassed in the world."
Proud - as mother should be
Among the beaming members of the bid committee entourage was Marion Johnson, whose son Dave played a key role in the past two campaigns as bid committee vice president.
"I am so proud of him. I've seem him work so hard and have so many ups and downs," Johnson said. "I'm proud. Like a mother should be."
Winning quotes
IOC delegate from the United States, Anita DeFrantz, on Salt Lake City's unprecedented first-ballot triumph: "What it says is that they're convinced this was the place."
Sports Authority chairman Randy Dryer, who oversees the Utah venues built with $59 million of taxpayer money: "Now I don't have to worry about how to pay for all those facilities."
Salt Lake Mayor DeeDee Corradini: "I had several IOC delegates come up to me after the vote and tell me now I must win re-election. Maybe I should announce right here that I'll run again."