Speed climber Sam Watson wore his bronze medal from the 2024 Summer Games over a suit and tie to be honored at the Utah Legislature Wednesday along with other Olympic and Paralympic athletes with Utah ties who competed in Paris.
Without the medal around his neck, the University of Utah student who grew up in Texas could have been mistaken for a legislative intern instead of a top-ranked world record holder who sees the state where USA Climbing has been headquartered since 2018 as the ideal place to train.
Utah is “fighting above its weight class in terms of sport achievements and athletics and building that kind of culture,” Watson told reporters after the recognition ceremonies, citing the state hosting Winter Games in 2002 and again in 2034.
“Creating a legacy in the community of athletes across the state definitely can make an impact towards the 2034 Games,” he said, through “inspiring others and showing off that Utah can be a seriously good place for training and an eventual host for the Olympics for a second time.”
Fellow Olympic speed climber and University of Utah student Zach Hammer of Michigan, dressed more casually in a Team USA polo shirt, is also excited the 2034 Winter Games are coming to his adopted home state.
“Climbers from all over are flocking here to train with everybody else because it’s the classic saying, ‘You want to be the best, train with the best.’ So now that’s really like the case here,” Hammer said.
“The fact that it’s going to keep snowballing, I can’t wait,” he said. “When the Games come here, hopefully by then, the athletes here will have built up to so many, the energy for the Games is going be amazing.”
Watson and Hammer, along with Olympic speed climber, Piper Kelly, heptathlete Chari Hawkins, diver Emilia Nilsson Garip, a U. student who competed in Paris for Sweden, and Paralympic discus champion David Blair, received standing ovations in the House and Senate.
Calling them a “remarkable group of athletes,” Rep. Jon Hawkins, R-Pleasant Grove, told the House they represented Utah in the Paris Games as a longtime “hub for elite training. Our universities and communities continue to shape some of the world’s best competitors.”
Their “achievements showcase Utah’s legacy for excellence in athletics,” Hawkins said, with 22 Olympians and Paralympians in the 2024 Summer Games having attended college in Utah, eight having grown up in the state and seven currently living and training here.
Blair, a competitor in three Paralympics beginning with the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro who also sported one of his Paralympic medals at the Capitol, marveled at their successes.
“It’s crazy to think that the athletic history of the planet is being broken by athletes comings out of Utah. It’s remarkable, honestly,” he said, adding,“how’s that possible? It’s got to be the mountains. Or something, right? There’s something in the air.”
Born and raised in Davis County and now living in Eagle Mountain, Blair said Utah is “a great place that supports you.”
Chari Hawkins, who grew up in Rexburg, Idaho, but now lives in Herriman, said she trained for decades to compete in her first Olympics at 33 in the seven running, throwing and jumping events of the heptathlon.
The lesson is to “just keep putting one foot in front of the other no matter where you come from. You really can do anything if you keep your mind to it,” she said. “I’m really grateful we get to show Utah, show up for yourself and you will be surprised what you can accomplish.”
It’s a message that can be amplified by another Winter Games in the state.
“When I was in Paris, the vibes of like, the Olympics, is so exciting,” she said. “Even if you’re not competing, there’s something about just being in the energy of the Olympics. It’s so exciting that we have the opportunity to bring it back to Utah.”
