| Salt Lake City |
 |
 |
| GER |
12 |
16 |
7 |
35 |
 |
| USA |
10 |
13 |
11 |
34 |
|
| NOR |
11 |
7 |
6 |
24 |
|
| CAN |
6 |
3 |
8 |
17 |
|
| RUS |
6 |
6 |
4 |
16 |
|
| AUT |
2 |
4 |
10 |
16 |
|
| ITA |
4 |
4 |
4 |
12 |
|
| FRA |
4 |
5 |
2 |
11 |
|
| SUI |
3 |
2 |
6 |
11 |
|
| NED |
3 |
5 |
0 |
8 |
|
|
|
|
How does S.L. rate next to other Olympic cities?
By Brady Snyder
Deseret News staff writer
By most accounts the 2002 Winter Games were great, superb, most excellent or just about any other well-meaning adjective a thesaurus could offer.
But despite all the praise and adoration Salt Lake doesn't figure to swipe the title of "Best Winter Games Ever" from Lillehammer, Norway, host of the 1994 Games.
Noted Olympic filmmaker Bud Greenspan lists Lillehammer first, placing Salt Lake a close second. And one of Salt Lake's biggest Olympic cheerleaders agrees.
"I loved Lillehammer," former quarterback Steve Young told the Los Angles Times. "That was my dream for Salt Lake — that it would be like that. At least that's what I kept telling people in Salt Lake. I think security weighs it down a little. Everyone understands. But if it was wide open, it'd be better. But despite that, it's been a good experience."
The man who organized those Games in Lillehammer, Gerhard Heiberg, is now a member of the International Olympic Committee and was in Salt Lake the past two weeks.
He said these Games were "excellent" — most everyone went home happy from athletes to media to spectators. The television ratings were good and that means sponsors were likewise joyous, Heiberg said.
Still, he won't say, when asked, which Games were better.
"The only difference I will point out is Lillehammer is a small city and Salt Lake is a big city," he said.
And that might be the difference that puts the Norwegian town in front.
Salt Lake City was the biggest city to to ever host a Winter Games. Maybe too big for some tastes.
Noted New York Times journalist George Vecsey dubbed these the "urban games," chock full of fences, barbed wire and concrete barriers — things you might expect in a post-Sept. 11 American city but you would never see in a quaint Scandinavian village like Lillehammer.
There wasn't enough natural atmosphere, concurred Ed Hula, who publishes the Olympic newsletter Around the Rings.
Instead of just letting the party happen, like it did in Lillehammer, organizers and city leaders created a festival by bringing in bands like 'N Sync, Creed and the Dave Matthews Band or by turning the grounds around the City-County Building into something akin to the state fair.
Lillehammer was more international, Hula said. There were more people cheering widely for their countries since many more Europeans could make the trek to Norway than they could to Salt Lake.
There is one superlative Hula did give the Salt Lake Games: "These are the best organized Games by far."
Certainly the title "Best Games" is in the eye of the beholder.
"I'm not sure it doesn't rival the best Summer Games," U.S. Olympic Committee President Sandra Baldwin said.
Salt Lake produced a nearly flawless transportation plan, superb volunteers and it was hard to find an athletic event that wasn't packed with engrossing storylines.
"The volunteers have been the best I've encountered," said Austin Sealy, IOC member from Barbados and veteran of 14 Games.
Even Vitaly Smirnov, a Russian IOC vice president who complained about judging and refereeing at several athletic competitions, could find no fault with the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. In fact, Smirnov took time to praise Mitt Romney amidst his grumblings.
Many newspaper columnists had similar praise.
"These are still the Olympics," wrote Scott Fowler of the Charlotte Observer. "When they are done right, they can still take us to a better place. This one did."
Added John Maher from the Austin American-Statesman: "Salt Lake takes home the gold."
Maybe not the gold, but the silver at least. Perhaps the IOC will intervene and award double golds — the two best Games ever, Lillehammer and Salt Lake. Different but both good.
E-mail: bsnyder@desnews.com
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February 25, 2002
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