Sports
With Winter Olympics host options fading, Salt Lake City in line for 2034 — and beyond?
SALT LAKE CITY — Lindsey Vonn was 17, awestruck by her competition and feeling the weight of her first Olympic Winter Games experience. Before she went on to become one of the most decorated alpine skiers in the history of the sport, Vonn was just a kid hoping to stay on the course when she made her Olympic debut at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City 22 years ago. She finished sixth in the combined event and 32nd in slalom.
The impact of her experience in Utah all that time ago stuck with her throughout the ensuing years of gilded dominance. So much so that she kept coming back whenever she could. Before she retired in 2019, after a series of serious knee injuries, home was the suitcase she carried as she trotted the globe. Still, when asked where her home base was, she’d mention a series of places, and always made sure to include Utah.
Vonn, now 39, is part of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games. And with the International Olympic Committee seemingly on the doorstep of awarding the Beehive State the 2034 Winter Games, its second Olympics, Vonn believes the model for sustainability for the spectacle held every four years is to move toward a rotational approach. And she said Salt Lake City should be atop the list.
“I think in this day and age, it’s not a feasible blueprint anymore,” Vonn told The Athletic recently. “We need to have a more sustainable option, and I think Salt Lake is the best Olympic option that is available to the world right now.”
The future of the Winter Games is clouded by governing bodies balking at being asked to spend billions of dollars on venues that will not be utilized after the three-week event comes to a close. Climate change has eradicated potential hosts from the map as snow levels drop in many countries worldwide. The IOC can no longer act with the assumption that the Winter Games are going to be a tantalizing endeavor for potential host cities, or even feasible to stage in many parts of the world.
Gone are the days when the IOC wished for cities and countries to openly compete with one another in hopes of receiving the bid. Now, the IOC features a future host commission that tours potential hosts and forwards its data and reports to the IOC executive board, who then decide whether or not to bring their suggestion to a vote at an IOC session.
The IOC’s future host commission recently spent a week in Utah on an official visit to tour venues and hear the pitch that the SLC-Utah Committee had to bring the Games back.
“This is a hidden treasure, this city and this region,” said Olympic Games executive director Christophe Dubi. “The rest of the world have memories of 2002, but this place has profoundly changed. This story needs to be told.”
A quick Google search shows the condition of former state-of-the-art Olympic venues that are now dormant homes to rodents, weeds and pooled water.
In Rio de Janeiro, the aquatic center built for the 2016 Summer Games was left as a hollowed-out stadium. The 35,000-seat Olympic Stadium erected for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies in Pyeongchang, South Korea, is now just a mound of grass in the shape of an amphitheater — an empty one. In total, South Korea spent an estimated $13 billion for the 2018 Winter Games.
In Tokyo, the gymnastics center constructed for the 2020 Summer Games is unused and surrounded by empty parking lots and gates with the same signs still hanging with directions to get in. It was paid for by the Tokyo taxpayers and cost an estimated $180 million.
A so-called “white elephant” property requires exorbitant expenses and plenty of upkeep, and it has little-to-zero value as soon as it’s finished. They are littered throughout cities around the globe. Hosting an Olympics was once perceived to be the utmost prestigious honor in sports, but residents of prospective cities have gotten wise to the waste of taxpayer money.
But it hasn’t been a waste in Salt Lake City. The venues have been maintained and used again and again for the last 22 years.
The Olympic Oval west of downtown has hosted World Cup and World Championship speed skating events. The Utah Olympic Park in Park City has remained in the rotation for World Cup and World Championship bobsled, luge and skeleton events, too. The Soldier Hollow Nordic Center, which is 45 minutes away in the Heber Valley, has continued to host cross-country ski and biathlon events. And the various ski resorts within an hour of downtown have remained stops for world-class freestyle skiing and snowboard competitions. Over 90 World Cup and World Championship Winter Olympic events have been held in Utah since 2002.
“It is really great to see that we are not looking for white elephants in the countryside — we found just used, excellent venues for the next Winter Olympic Games,” said Karl Stoss, IOC’s future host commission chair.
Deemed “climate-reliable” and boasting ready-to-go venues, Salt Lake City is the leading candidate to host the 2034 Winter Olympics, just 32 years after hosting in 2002. (Tim De Waele / Getty Images)
After the 2002 Games, the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation assumed responsibility for maintaining and operating the venues. The foundation received a $76 million endowment after the Games. With options worldwide dwindling for the IOC, Utah’s Olympic legacy makes it not only a logical option to return in 2034, but beyond.
“We have all the infrastructure. We have all the venues. We have the right altitude. We can be economically smart with how we host a Games,” Vonn said. “It’s a much different endeavor when you have to build basically an entire Olympic Stadium for all your sports. It’s just not how it’s usually approached. With that, it’s clear why we are the best choice for 2034 and beyond.”
During the IOC delegation’s stop, Stoss said Salt Lake City and Utah are a model for other future hosts around the world.
“We have to think about how to bring winter sports to all the continents, not just here to the Americas,” Stoss said. “This will be a challenge for us to think about how we could motivate other nations and other national committees to participate in the Winter Games.”
While Salt Lake is all but confirmed to be the host in 2034, the IOC future host commission still hasn’t decided on the 2030 host. The French Alps are currently in pole position. The IOC delegation said during their visit that finding suitable hosts for the Winter Games is going to be more tenuous in the coming decades, and IOC president Thomas Bach said last year that by 2040 there will be as few as 10 countries with an appropriate climate. The IOC had to settle on Beijing for the last Winter Games, in 2022, with many of the venues anywhere from 45 to 75 miles away.
“There’s a possibility to think wider now,” said Jacqueline Barrett, future Olympic Games hosts director for the IOC, “to think how could the Olympic Winter Games here in 2034 be transformative.”
Utah’s Olympic organizers utilized the phrase “ready, willing and able” as far back as 2015. They were even standing at the ready in case a bid fell through in recent years. Everything is in place. And the reality is, from a Winter Games perspective, Utah may be 1-of-1.
Salt Lake City-Utah Committee CEO Fraser Bullock has estimated that the cost of the 2034 Games will be roughly $2.4 billion and will not be utilizing taxpayer dollars, but instead be privately funded.
The IOC likely won’t find that anywhere else in the world, and the governing body has acknowledged that it is considering the scenario of a rotational host system going forward.
“I think that’s definitely where things are going,” Vonn said.
While Utah does have a full head of steam and all the leverage with the IOC at the moment, there are issues facing the state’s residents.
Stoss said he’s read climate reports from the SLC-Utah Committee stating it could host Winter Games through 2050, but beyond that is a question, not only for Utah but the world. The Great Salt Lake is shrinking due to climate change, experts say. It’s a potential ecological disaster should the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere continue to dwindle. Despite back-to-back hefty winters to help raise water levels, the Utah legislature has spent roughly $1 billion on water conservation to help the lake.
“I think Salt Lake is the best Olympic option that is available to the world right now,” says Lindsey Vonn, the champion skier now part of the SLC-Utah Committee. (Tim De Waele / Getty Images)
On top of that, with winter storms becoming less frequent, the Wasatch Front — the towns, including Salt Lake City, that make up the growing sprawl at the foot of the white-capped Wasatch Mountains — is prone to winter inversions that trap pollutants in a thick dense smog that often hovers over the area. Part of the bid for the Games from organizers includes goals to achieve 100 percent renewable energy by 2030 and reduce CO2 emissions by 50 percent.
While taxpayer dollars aren’t currently expected to go toward paying for the cost of the 2034 Games itself, the continual growth Salt Lake City is undergoing is expected to bring more changes on the sports front. Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith recently purchased the rights to relocate the Arizona Coyotes for an estimated $1.2 billion. The Utah legislature has passed a $1 billion taxpayer bill that will, according to Salt Lake Mayor Erin Mendenhall, transform the downtown community and help house the NBA’s Utah Jazz and the NHL team.
In a recent interview with The Athletic, Smith said his decision to bring the NHL to Utah was the same as his home state wanting to bring the Olympics back for a second go-round.
“If you think about the Olympics and the way Salt Lake bid on the Olympics, it’s very much the same way,” he said. “We’re interested. We’re ready. And we’re a partner.”
Stoss and the IOC delegation will spend the next two months working on their report on Salt Lake City and present their report to the IOC executive committee in mid-June. Stoss hopes then they’ll be greenlit to bring it to the IOC session in July in Paris to finalize the worst kept secret around: that the Winter Games are bound for Utah once more. Bullock had his best poker face on at the conclusion of the visit.
“We look forward to July 24,” Bullock said.
(Top photo of American skier Picabo Street starting a downhill run at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City: Olivier Morin / AFP via Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA — The scene could have been a replay from 48 hours earlier, but this time it went better for the New York Knicks.
With the Knicks up by a point and for the second time in three days hoping to close out an NBA first-round playoff series, Donte DiVincenzo stepped to the free-throw line. At this moment, they knew that far more important than a game of basketball was the telephone game.
Two nights earlier with the Knicks caught up in another tight battle with the Philadelphia 76ers, Josh Hart hit only one of two free throws, extending the Knicks’ lead to three with 15 seconds to go. Anyone who’s into drama knows what happened next: The Knicks didn’t intentionally foul, even though they were supposed to do so. Tyrese Maxey tied the score with a 3-pointer from Hoboken. And the 76ers won in overtime to extend the series to Game 6.
The Knicks said after Tuesday’s final buzzer that they miscommunicated. Head coach Tom Thibodeau wanted them to foul up three, but the message was not conveyed.
That was not about to happen again.
As DiVincenzo waited for the basketball, ready to shoot two free throws that could put the Knicks up three, Knicks players scrambled to one another, reminding each one of the situation. Everyone on the floor knew the plan: If DiVincenzo sank both freebies, they would intentionally foul.
This time, that’s exactly what they did.
DiVincenzo nailed them both. Miles “Deuce” McBride, the same person who failed to intentionally foul Tuesday, swiped at Maxey in the backcourt, long before he could toss up a prayer of a shot. The Knicks and Sixers traded off free throws. And it helped New York close out a 118-115 win and, more importantly, the series 4-2.
OG Anunoby celebrates a 3-pointer during Game 6 on Thursday against the 76ers. (Bill Streicher / USA Today)
“Sometimes when something like that happens, it crystalizes the thinking for everybody,” Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau said. “And we’re not gonna be perfect. We’re gonna make mistakes along the way. And I think you see that here.”
The Knicks will face the Indiana Pacers, which just polished off a six-game victory over the Milwaukee Bucks, in the second round of the playoffs. Game 1 is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. (ET) Monday.
New York will make mistakes in that series, too. Just like against Philly, it will have to learn from them.
Part of the reason the Knicks have made it this far — that they have won a playoff series for two consecutive seasons, the first time this franchise has accomplished that feat in 24 years — is that their blunders make them better.
They botched the end of Game 5, so they made sure not to do the same in Game 6.
On Thursday, they hit big shots. They fouled when they were supposed to do it. On another possession, when the Sixers ran a play inside the final minute with the Knicks up three, Thibodeau knew Philadelphia had to go for a triple.
Instead of leaving a conventional center on the floor as he did in Game 5 when Mitchell Robinson fouled Maxey on a four-point play, he subbed in McBride for a small, switch-everything lineup that pitted OG Anunoby at center. It got a stop.
The Knicks noticed what did not work, and they adjusted.
They placed various defenders on Maxey after he went for 46 points in Game 5. In Game 6, he scored only 17 points on 18 shots. In Game 6, DiVincenzo started on him.
They revised their double-teams of Joel Embiid. By the second half of Game 6, they were defending the reigning MVP straight up, not doubling except for in emergencies. Until then, they shook up where the double-teams came from, sometimes from two passes away, other times from the baseline.
The Knicks didn’t just win Game 6 because they had been there before.
Hart hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 25.6 seconds to go and finished with 16 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists. Anunoby went off in the second half, disrupting passing lanes and eviscerating Embiid on a fourth-quarter dunk. He finished with 19 points and nine boards. DiVincenzo rediscovered his shot, going for 23 points and seven assists while dropping in five 3-pointers.
And then there was Jalen Brunson, who splurged for 41 points and 12 assists. He has now scored 39-plus points in four consecutive playoff games, which is the first time that has happened since 1993 when Michael Jordan did it.
27-year-olds with 35+ PPG in the playoffs:
Michael Jordan
Elgin BaylorAnd Jalen Brunson. pic.twitter.com/Wcbc3hSRVh
— StatMuse (@statmuse) May 3, 2024
“This was a really big test for us and we were able to come out on top,” Brunson said. “Going forward … it might be a different test, maybe something completely different. But this definitely helps, and obviously, you want to learn while winning, so obviously we’re still playing and we want to get better.”
This is why the Knicks expressed no interest in tanking out of the No. 2 seed at the end of the season. Others in the league, such as the Cleveland Cavaliers, feared the 76ers, who cratered to seventh place while Embiid was hurt, enough to intentionally lose on the final day of the regular season. But New York wanted this position.
Now, this group is set up well because of its second-place finish.
The Knicks pushed and shoved their way past the Sixers in Round 1. They own home-court advantage in Round 2 — and they’d have it even if the Pacers hadn’t upset the Bucks. The Knicks — yes, the New York Knicks — will be the favorites to go to their first Eastern Conference finals since 2000.
But that doesn’t mean Indiana will be a picnic.
The Pacers glide through games. They are speed demons in transition. The Tyrese Haliburton-Myles Turner pick-and-pop is among the NBA’s most dangerous actions. The Knicks will encounter loads of problems in Round 2 they haven’t seen before.
A season ago, they faced a lower seed in the Eastern Conference semifinals, and it did not go well for them, losing to the Miami Heat in six. But the Knicks tend to learn from their mistakes.
It’s a good trait to boast come playoff time.
“In the playoffs, crazy stuff happens,” Thibodeau said. “And then it’s how you respond.”
(Top photo: Bill Streicher / USA Today)
The Miami Marlins’ tank seems to be on, despite it only being mid-May.
After making the postseason last year with a surprising 84-78 record, the Fish have looked like anything but a playoff team so far, losing 24 of their first 33 games.
Roughly 10 minutes before Luis Arraez was supposed to lead off for the Marlins in Oakland against the Athletics on Friday, he was reportedly traded to the San Diego Padres.
The Marlins quickly updated their lineup two minutes after the scheduled first pitch, making it all but officially official.
The Miami Marlins reportedly traded Luis Arraez (3) to the San Diego Padres during the team’s Friday game against the Oakland Athletics. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
The Padres are said to have traded four prospects for the back-to-back batting champion.
Arraez hit an MLB-leading .354 last season during his first year with the Marlins, who acquired him from the Minnesota Twins after he won the American League batting title in 2022 with a .316 average.
Arraez hit an MLB-leading .354 last season during his first year with the Marlins. (AP Photo/Peter Joneleit)
JULIO URIAS AVOIDS JAIL TIME IN DOMESTIC CASE AFTER PLEADING NO CONTEST
The Venezuelan infielder boasted a .400 average into late-June, a feat no one had accomplished since 2008 (Ted Williams remains the last player to hit .400 in a season, way back in 1941).
It’s yet another infielder for the Padres, who already have Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts, Ha-Seong Kim, Tyler Wade and Fernando Tatis Jr., the latter of whom had to move to the outfield due to the infield abundance.
Arraez finished in eighth in NL MVP voting last year and 13th in the AL vote in 2022, earning a Silver Slugger Award at second base each season.
This season, so far, he is “only” hitting .299.
Arraez won a Silver Slugger award in 2022 and again last season. (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
The Marlins, entering Friday, were on pace for a 44-118 record.
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SOUTHERN SECTION PLAYOFFS
BASEBALL
Tuesday, May 7
(All games at 3:15 p.m. unless noted)
Division 1
Second Round
Corona at Mater Dei
Aquinas at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame
Huntington Beach at Villa Park
Gahr at Santa Margarita
Orange Lutheran at Vista Murrieta
La Mirada at Santa Ana Foothill
Cypress at San Dimas
Harvard-Westlake at Bonita
Division 2
Second Round
Westlake at West Torrance
Arcadia at Yorba Linda
Hart at Newport Harbor
Arlington at Palos Verdes
Maranatha at Ayala
Anaheim Canyon at Quartz Hill
Moorpark at Valencia
Citrus Valley at Crown Lutheran
Division 3
Second Round
Corona Centennial at Arrowhead Christian
El Modena at South Torrance
Fountain Valley at El Segundo
Corona del Mar at St. John Bosco
Chaminade at Mission Viejo
Los Alamitos at La Salle
Beckman at La Habra
Summit at Newbury Park
Division 4
Second Round
Camarillo at Murrieta Valley
Los Osos at Cerritos
San Marino at Oak Hills
Culver City at Eastvale Roosevelt
Tustin at Palm Desert
Rio Mesa at Ontario Christian
La Quinta at Paraclete
San Juan Hills at St. Francis
Division 5
Second Round
Ganesha at Santa Monica
Adelanto at Trinity Classical Academy
Segerstrom at Riverside Prep
Oxnard Pacifica at Whittier Christian
Santa Ana Calvary Chapel at Monrovia
Lakeside at Chino
Montebello at Liberty
Bloomington at Chino Hills
Division 6
Second Round
Costa Mesa at West Covina
Village Christian at Brentwood
St. Paul at Diamond Bar
Alhambra at Grand Terrace
Salesian at Schurr
Rancho Mirage at St. Bonaventure
Santa Fe at Viewpoint
Colony at Rialto
Division 7
Second Round
Buena Park at Hueneme
Banning at Rancho Christian
South El Monte at Artesia
Oakwood at Mary Star
Wildomar Cornerstone Christian at Santa Ana
Leuzinger at Lancaster Desert Christian
Jurupa Valley at Chaffey
Silverado at Oxford Academy
Division 8
Second Round
Orange County Pacifica Christian at United Christian Academy
New Roads at San Jacinto Valley
Coachella Valley at Don Bosco Tech
Rancho Alamitos at San Bernardino
Santa Maria Valley Christian at Arroyo Valley
Edgewood at Beverly Hills
Cal Lutheran at Santa Clarita Christian
Academy of Careers & Exploration at Azusa
SOFTBALL
Tuesday, May 7
(All games at 3:15 p.m. unless noted)
Division 1
First Round
Capistrano Valley at Orange Lutheran
Camarillo at Anaheim Canyon
Huntington Beach at Riverside Poly
Chino Hills at Murrieta Mesa
Great Oak at Norco
JSerra at La Mirada
Oaks Christian at Los Alamitos
South Hills at Garden Grove Pacifica
Division 2
Second Round
El Modena at Mater Dei
Beaumont at Ayala
Tesoro at Gahr
Rio Mesa at Temple City
Rosary Academy at California
Whittier Christian at Cypress
Valley View at Aliso Niguel
La Serna at Valencia
Division 3
Second Round
West Torrance at Arlington
Woodbridge at Fullerton
Redondo Union at Sierra Canyon
Etiwanda at La Canada
Santa Fe at Aquinas
Bishop Amat at King
Royal at Charter Oak
Agoura at Upland
Division 4
Second Round
Norwalk at JW North
Oaks Hills at Jurupa Hills
Downey at Chaminade
Schurr at Mira Costa
Paraclete at San Marcos
La Quinta at Santa Monica
Sultana at Diamond Bar
Crescenta Valley at Orange Vista
Division 5
Second Round
Palos Verdes at West Ranch
Quartz Hill at Carter
Liberty at Keppel
Grace Brethren at Garden Grove
Burbank Providence at South El Monte
Cerritos Valley Christian at Shadow Hills
Paloma Valley at Linfield Christian
Fillmore at St. Bonaventure
Division 6
Second Round
Harvard-Westlake at Ganesha
Granite Hills at Lancaster
Indio at Santa Ana Calvary Chapel
Garden Grove Santiago at Lakewood St. Joseph
Viewpoint at Pioneer
University Prep at Mayfield
Canyon Springs at Capistrano Valley Christian
Paramount at Tahquitz
Division 7
Second Round
Hawthorne MSA at Oxford Academy
Miller at Los Amigos
Faith Baptist at Yucca Valley
Pasadena Poly at Riverside Prep
Lennox Academy at Eastside
Vista Del Lago at Cathedral City
Academy of Careers & Exploration at Leuzinger
Orangewood Academy at Muir
Division 8
Quarterfinals
Wildomar Cornerstone Christian at Hesperia Christian
Temecula Prep at Orange
United Christian Academy at Excelsior Charter
Jurupa Valley at Archer
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