In preparation for our nearly monthlong project commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Winter Olympics here in Utah, I watched the Opening Ceremony again in its entirety.
Aging Olympics host Jim McKay shared narration of the seven-minute introduction of the national broadcast with Bob Costas. McKay reflected at what had been; Costas looked ahead.
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McKay gracefully referenced Sept. 11 and the 16 months, and a new world reality, that had passed since the Olympic flame had been last lit.
"The sweetly serene Games of Sydney seem as distant now as a star in the night, Games wrapped around ceremonies of innocence we may never see again," McKay said. "There’s no turning back, no matter how much we wish we could."
Like many of my colleagues 10 years ago, I was heavily involved in coverage of the Salt Lake Games. At the time, though, I worked in Los Angeles and these Games were not Utah’s, they were America’s.
It was a different perspective.
Watching that tape reminded me how our newsroom came to a standstill as the World Trade Center flag entered the stadium. Salt Lake City and Utah were representing all of us as Americans. As Americans, we were proud of both.
"On a mountainside in Salt Lake City tonight, the 19th Olympic Winter Games will convene not with a simple ceremony of innocence, but a ceremony of resonance," Costas said.
And it did.
The Tribune’s look back began last weekend with pieces by Mike Gorrell and Michael C. Lewis, longtime Olympics reporters who chronicled lasting changes in the state, the way Utahns see themselves and in Americans’ winter sports prowess.
The series continued Wednesday, the actual 10-year anniversary of the Opening Ceremony, and local officials announced that day a creation of an exploratory committee for the 2022 Winter Olympics. Today we look at how the Games propelled Mitt Romney’s political career and also at Apolo Ohno’s decade-long transcendence of the American sports stage.
We’ll continue to explore the topic the next two weekends, as well as bring you the best Olympics photographs from our archives, in galleries unveiled at sltrib.com each day through Feb. 26.
Watching from afar 10 years ago, when the fear of Sept. 11 was still part of our daily life, we sought something more from the 2002 Games.
Americans everywhere wondered if Salt Lake could deliver.
"Since that morning without reason," Costas said, "we have seen the strength of ideas when they’re made real."
Utah made it so.
Michael A. Anastasi is a Tribune managing editor. He can be reached at manastasi@sltrib.com.
Copyright 2012 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
