Water Sports
Filling the Great Salt Lake for the opening ceremonies of our 2034 Winter Olympiad is visionary, no doubt. Entrepreneurs may call it a BHAG—Big Hairy Audacious Goal. Pessimists may call it impossible. But tomorrow's Olympians are today's children, and they may simply call it necessary, determined to rise above common expectations to reach their Olympic Dreams.
I can see a massive flutter of birds, like the ibis, rising out of the tall wetland grass ... and a cluster of biathletes charging over the crest of a hill.
And here we are, me and you, inherently now on the same team as we've been awarded the honor of hosting the 2034 Olympic Winter Games.
I can see a ski jumper flying down the hillside of the Utah Olympic Park, sticking the landing with confidence ... and a pelican's outstretched wings as it glides softly into the wetland waters of Bear River Bay.
As human beings we are in and of this landscape. Our quality of life is inseparable from the quality of the Great Salt Lake and the rivers that fill it. This is, was and will be the place. Me and you. Us and them. This lake, this air, this water, these are our problems to solve in this place we call home.
I can see a downhill ski racer's thighs, flexing in slow motion as their skis move over the snow at 90 MPH ... and the undulating movement of water flowing through the pillowed snow banks of a canyon creek.
Imagine we each embrace that Olympic spirit, tapping into our highest and best selves to raise the Great Salt Lake to full pool for the opening ceremonies! Will it come easy? Absolutely not.
It will demand determination, sacrifice and conservation. Today's youngest athletes will be competing in the 2034 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah—our home! Their dreams are big enough to overcome the too-common naysayer's noise, and we must dream big with them. They deserve our best. Let's fill up this Lake and give it to them!
I can see a speedskater's perfectly smooth glide, laser focused, making a powerful pass ... and a coyote stalking its prey across the lakebed playa.
Sure, hosting a successful Olympic Winter Games is an achievement to be proud of, but we can do better, we can reach higher. Let's go for the gold! Let's fill this Great Salt Lake in honor of Utah, our humanity and our heritage. Let's fill it in honor of our children.
Ten years from now, we will showcase our state on the global stage, and we have the opportunity to do what no community has ever done before—save their saline lake. We will show the world who are at the Opening Ceremonies.
I can see a tundra swan spreading its wings bright and wide in the bay ... and an ice dancing couple's grandiloquent, graceful moves.
Remember, winter sports are water sports. Let the games begin!
Kelly Hannah
Salt Lake City
"Cox Unpopuli," Aug. 1 Private Eye
Gov. Spencer Cox should do his homework before jumping on the bandwagon. It wasn't The Last Supper [during the Paris Opening Ceremony]. Do better.
clclark44
Via Instagram
What I think this says is Christianity steals so much from other cultures they can't tell their stories from the ones they steal.
shoebrrt
Via Instagram
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