When the whole world was watching...

22 years ago today will forever be in my memory

Twenty-two years ago today, I worked perhaps the longest, and most gratifying, day of my life. I facilitated the accredited media’s coverage of the Opening Ceremonies for the 2002 Salt Lake Olympic Games. I don’t remember what time I got home, but it was late. I don’t remember what I ate, but I know it was not much. Many of the details of the day, and the months leading up to it, are out-of-focus, kind of like the photo below.

My “team” during the 2002 Opening Ceremonies. The late Bruce Dworshak, Rachel Estling Daigler, and Lauren Price Koeller. They created this memory.

I remember the hours and hours of planning to insure we had people to run film from photo positions to be delivered to the Main Media Center. We planned the logistics around escorting dignitaries to media interviews and distributing embargoed news releases of the cauldron lighting at just the right time.

I remember the Secret Service sharpshooters on the tops of buildings outside Rice-Eccles. I remember someone, I don’t recall who unfortunately, from the White House press pool complaining their seats to observe the President were outside in top row of the bleachers and it was cold. But they had line of sight of the President, which was the requirement.

I remember the facts of the day and the guests in attendance. Senator John Glenn. Archbishop Desmond Tutu. President George W. Bush. Our CEO, future Senator Mitt Romney. The 1980 U.S. Olympic ice hockey team. Yo-Yo Ma’s performance with Sting. The American flag recovered from the rubble of the World Trade Center attacks.

2002 Olympic Games Opening Ceremonies photos originally from the Deseret News

These are memories and experiences I will carry with me forever. Now, two decades burning down the road, as I reflect on this day, I realize the memories are no longer tied to the facts, but connected to the people with whom I shared this experience. And isn’t that what life is about? The people who share your journey.

I have been fortunate to experience a lot of unique events and assume positions of leadership in organizations I never imagined possible. But it is always the people who add the value to the shared experience. They stay with you.

So, to Lauren and Rachel, Erich and Kathy, Bob, Beth, Carrie, Sean, David, Frank, and Jill. Jeff, Jon, and Paul, Stacy and Jayne, John and Charlie, Rich and Susan, and anyone else I am forgetting, thank you for being part of this journey to forever etch a memory of February 8, 2002 in my thoughts. We miss you, Bruce… It was never better than it was on that day.