Olympic Legacy
Walking around Deer Valley Resort puts you in the footsteps of Olympic skiers Alisa Camplin of Australia and Park City’s own Joe Pack who competed for the top titles in the Women’s and Men’s Freestyle Aerials. At Park City Mountain Resort, Kelly Clark snagged the first U.S. gold medal in the Women’s Snowboarding Halfpipe event, and the U.S. men’s team swept the medals for the Snowboarding Halfpipe.
The Utah Olympic Park became the home of a U.S. gold medal in the first-ever Women’s Bobsled in the Winter Games, and hosted the bobsled, luge, skeleton, ski jumping and Nordic combined events. The Joe Quinney Sports Center holds a photo gallery of Olympic photos, and the Alf Engen Ski Museum celebrates the entire history of skiing. Recreating Olympic moments is possible all summer with the park’s bobsled rides and Learn To Fly (ski jumping) program.
The Utah Olympic Park also features day camps that expose kids and adults to the complete Olympic experience, including visits to the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns, which hosted the speed skating events.
Soldier Hollow, 20 minutes away in Midway, was host to the Olympic biathlon, Nordic combined and cross-country skiing events and is now a permanent training site for professional athletes. The site is open to the public and has a range of activities scheduled for the summer months, including the Sheepdog Championships in September and golf, horseback riding and a biathlon experience all summer long.
The Canyons Resort was home to NBC’s Today show and the Nightly News with Tom Brokaw during the Games. The world’s largest teepee and a Native American village were also featured at the resort.
Park City was more than a venue for competitions during the Olympics; it became the Games’ party headquarters. Memories of the Olympics still dot the landscape—from the plaques on buildings that housed significant events to the symbolic Olympic torch outside the Kimball Art Center. Main Street became the location to go for fireworks, television show appearances and the infamous “Roots” berets.
The Coca-Cola pin trading headquarters engulfed 5th Street next to the Main Street Post Office, becoming the epicenter of a quest to find the original green Jell-O pin that was as competitive as anything on the slopes. Behind the pin trading lived the Budweiser Clydesdales during the Olympics. Swede Alley became the stable and staging area for the famous horses, as well as BudWorld.
The Park City Library and Education Center was transformed into the Norway House, which hosted the King and Queen of Norway, and the adjacent field became a huge maze built by Monster.com.
The Olympic Welcome Plaza still stands on the corner of Kearns Boulevard and Park Avenue, where past hosts of the Winter Olympic Games are recognized. The once ubiquitous warming cauldrons stand at the park as well as one of the original directional towers that guided visitors throughout the events.
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