Within a couple of weeks, Utahns will learn if the Wasatch Front will be served a second helping of international winter-sports competition.

Already the site of the 2002 Winter Olympics, Salt Lake City is a finalist for the 2003 Winter Goodwill Games, along with Lillehammer, Norway. Some late attention has also been given to the Austrian areas of Salzburg and St. Anton.

"We're still involved with them and we're still in the process," said Jeff Robbins, president and CEO of the Utah Sports Commission, which is overseeing Utah's bid for the Goodwill Games, a product of Turner Sports and the mid-1980s brainchild of media magnate Ted Turner.

"We're still moving forward . . . we feel like the ball pretty much is in their court," said Robbins of the commission's bid efforts with Turner Sports and parent company Time Warner Inc.

Goodwill Games spokesman Jeff Pomeroy said a final decision on the 2003 site could come within two to three weeks. Also up for consideration is a site for the 2003 Summer Goodwill Games, with the finalist cities being Phoenix, Montreal and Moscow.

Earlier this year, Goodwill Games president Mike Plant made his third visit to Utah in a year's time to review budget proposals and venue status and availability. He visited Salt Lake City, Park City and Snowbasin Ski Area during his time in Utah, although his stay didn't coincide with any of the numerous pre-Olympic test events along the Wasatch Front this past winter season.

Plant, who also served as a member of the board of trustees for the Salt Lake Olympic Organizing Committee that successfully bid on the 2002 Winter Games, has made as many trips to Lillehammer during the same time period. The 1994 Winter Olympic host city is seen as the strongest contender against Salt Lake City to win the 2003 winter sports festival.

The inaugural Winter Goodwill Games were held last year in Lake Placid, New York, the site of the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics. Some 300 athletes participated in 11 sports over a four-day period; the 2003 version is expected to stretch over eight days — including two weekends — in the month of March.

Also, seven international winter sports federations have opted to use the 2003 Winter Goodwill Games as the site for nearly all of their respective season finales. Other events besides Olympic-sanctioned competitions could also be added to the schedule.

Calgary has already been selected as site for the 2005 Winter Goodwill Games. One reason for the early tabbing of Canada's host of the 1988 Winter Olympics was the opportunity to tie the event with the centennial celebration of the province of Alberta that year.

Another reason for the 2003 host being selected after its 2005 counterpart? Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, was said to be the initial sentimental favorite for 2003, with the war-torn jewel of the former Yugoslavia being the perfect fit for international "goodwill." However, Sarajevo ultimately was seen as not quite ready for an international event of such great magnitude so soon after its civil-war struggles.

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With Sarajevo out, the Goodwill Games went looking for strong potential hosts, although Utah officials initially were considering the 2007 bid.

Conceived on the heels of the Cold War boycotts of the 1980 and 1984 Olympics, the Goodwill Games originally was a summer-season competition held alternately between the United States and Russia — Moscow (1986), Seattle (1990), St. Petersburg (1994) and New York City (1998).

The Goodwill Games will make its first venture outside of U.S. and Russian boundaries with the 2001 Games in Brisbane, Australia, later this year.


E-MAIL: taylor@desnews.com

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