Athletes, organizations discuss 2034 Games announcement | News, Sports, Jobs

She was recovering from food poisoning, but when she woke up on Wednesday, it was the first thing she looked for. Farquharson admits that she wasn’t really shocked to find out that her hometown would host the 2034 Olympic Winter Games.

“It kind of felt like something that we knew all along, it’s great to see it on paper, but there was really no doubt that they were going to get it,” she said.

The 2034 Games will be held from Feb. 10 to 26, 2034 and the Paralympics from March 10 to 19, 2034. It will be the second time Salt Lake City, Utah has hosted the Winter Olympics and the fifth time the Winter Olympics will be held in the United States. Along with Lake Placid in 1932 and 1980, Squaw Valley in Olympic Valley, California hosted the Games in 1960.

United States Bobsled and Skeleton Federation’s bobsled head coach, Chris Fogt, was in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah in the early morning when it was officially announced.

“I was actually with a couple old bobsledders and there were actually some current athletes there and we all sat there as they made the annoucement. It was just awesome to hear the ‘USA’ chants. They had the event at 2 or 2:30 in the morning and I wasn’t sure if people would show up, but there were thousands there.”

Fogt competed in three Olympic Winter Games and won a silver medal at the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia in four-man bobsled as a member of the famed Team Night Train, alongside Steven Holcomb, Steven Langton and Curtis Tomasevicz. He’s competed all over the world, but to him, having an Olympics on home soil is every athlete’s dream.

“When you’re overseas you hear chants of USA, but it’s from your parents and family, because there’s not as many Americans at foreign Olympics, but having one close to home is just awesome,” he said.

Fogt was a freshman Utah Valley University when the 2002 Games were held.

“I went to couple events and the atmosphere of it being here and being in downtown Salt Lake City, and seeing a few of the awards at the medal plaza and hearing the national anthem on your home soil is just an incredible experience,” he said.

Olympic bobsled athlete Elana Meyers Taylor, who trains in Lake Placid, became a bobsledder because of the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City.

“Being able to see Team USA win gold on American soil was a pivotal moment in shaping my career and life,” she said in a statement through Team USA. “I’m so excited that the next generation will have this opportunity to see Team USA on home soil and have the chance to dream Olympic and Paralympic sized dreams.”

Farquharson, now 25, was just 2 years old when the Olympics were held in Salt Lake City. She doesn’t have any recollection of those Games.

“My parents had just moved to Park City at the time,” she said. “But my mom was a volunteer.”

While she could potentially compete on home soil, it is still 10 years away, so she doesn’t know if she’ll compete in the 2034 Games.

“I’m just going to take it one step at a time and really see how I’m feeling, how my body is holding up and what I think will be the most fun for me,” she said.

Back in Park City, Utah, Farquharson’s parents own a restaurant called Clockwork Cafe, and she said people have stopped in had lots of conversations about the possibility of hosting the 2034 Olympics.

“This is truly an exciting time for winter sport. Utah has been remarkable in their support of our organization, and I’m honored to have the opportunity to collaborate with those at the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation, the Utah Sports Commission, the SLC-UT 2034 Organizing Committee, the USOPC, the National Governing Body and others,” USA Luge CEO Scott Riewald said in a statement. “We are eager to get back to Utah to celebrate the 2034 Winter Games, and USA Luge will be ready to welcome the world to our home.”

Fogt hopes that bringing the Olympic Winter Games back to the U.S. will inspire younger athletes to take on new winter sports.

“Not many people grew up bobsledding or doing skeleton, so it gives us an opportunity to broaden the base of the sport to get more recruits and also more sponsors to get more money to help support those recruits,” he said. “We’re hoping for a big recruiting push these next few years.”

“We know that the Games helps to inspire the world and the next generation of athletes, and we are looking forward to being strong supporters and ambassadors of the Games in our home of Utah,” U.S. Ski and Snowboard President and CEO Sophie Goldschmidt said in a statement.

While competing on home soil has always been a disadvantage for the host team, Fogt doesn’t think athletes will start leaving Lake Placid to train in Salt Lake City.

“I think Lake Placid, with its historical roots, will always be our home,” he said.

Farquharson wants to train in Utah more often. She added that training on home soil is always important.

“Hopefully we’ll see less World Cups there, and have people try to mitigate the amount of runs that other countries can get,” Farquharson joked. “That’s a venue that we use pretty frequently and over the years it’s had its own upgrades, like a new start house and the new training center up there. It’s just really coming to fruition all the work that they’ve been maintaining.”

In September, the United States Biathlon Association announced the relocation of its headquarters from New Gloucester, Maine to Midway, Utah, which is home to the Soldier Hollow Nordic Center. That site will host the biathlon, cross-country skiing and Nordic combined events at the 2034 Olympics, as it did in 2002.

The venue hosted and IBU World Cup in March of this year. It was the first-time the event had been hosted in the U.S. in more than five years.

“The recent success of the IBU World Cup at Soldier Hollow is paving the way for future events in the lead up to 2034 and growth in biathlon and all winter sports,” U.S. Biathlon President and CEO Jack Gierhart said. “We applaud the bid committee, the Utah community and everyone involved who worked so hard to make this a reality.”

The U.S. potentially could host the Olympic Winter Games earlier. The Lake Placid-New York state bid to host the sliding competitions for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games at Milano-Cortina, Italy is still in the running, despite construction being done on the Cortina d’Ampezzo track.

Lake Placid’s bid is one of just three other potential host sites, which also include St. Moritz, Switzerland and Igls/Innbruck, Austria, sited as a “Plan B” option if the century-old sliding track in Cortina d’Ampezzo is not completed by March 2025.