SALT LAKE CITY (Sept. 24, 2026) — With all 13 competition venues for the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games already built and in daily use, Utah’s organizing committee has spent the years since the Games were awarded doing something few hosts have had the freedom to do: putting its pre-Games focus into the state’s young people, rather than into construction.
On Wednesday, International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry spent the day in Utah experiencing what that looks like in practice.
In her first visit to Utah since becoming IOC president, Coventry joined students, Olympic and Paralympic athletes and community leaders at Salt Lake City’s Washington Elementary to mark the school’s participation in Champion Schools 34, a Utah 2034 statewide education initiative being delivered by Podium34 Founding Captain Ken Garff for Good. She later traded the school gym for the ice, joining Utah Lady Grizzlies athletes (ages 14-16) at practice and surprising the program with a donation from Utah 2034 — the organizing committee’s first youth-sport investment through its community impact programming.
Utah 2034 President and Executive Chair Fraser Bullock, Utah 2034 CEO and Vice Chair Brad Wilson, and Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall joined Coventry at both stops. Utah First Lady Abby Cox, Utah 2034 Education Committee Chair Amy Garff, and Olympic and Paralympic athletes Julie Letai, Hunter Powell, Joe Pleban and Kate Delson took part in the Washington Elementary celebration. Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson joined for hockey practice.
“Most host cities spend their runway building. Utah built ours in 2002, and the Olympic spirit that came along with it has never dulled,” said Fraser Bullock, Utah 2034 President and Executive Chair. “That allows us to put this time into young people — into reading, into getting kids onto the ice and into sport — so that by the time the world arrives in 2034, a generation of Utahns will already feel like these are their Games because they grew up alongside them.”
Bringing the Games into Utah Classrooms
The assembly at Washington Elementary School was built around the traditions and values of the Olympics. Students entered the gym carrying banners made by their classes as guests cheered them on, and Amy Garff entered to applause while carrying her Olympic torch from the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games.
Coventry spoke with students about her Olympic journey as a swimmer, making friends, and their excitement for the Games to come to their hometown in 2034.
Olympian Julie Letai also shared from a favorite childhood book before students raised individual lights representing their commitment to reading. As students returned to class, Olympians and Paralympians handed each child a book to take home.
“Being a champion starts long before anyone stands on a podium,” said Coventry. “It starts in moments like these — and being curious, learning something new, working through something that is difficult and having the courage to try again. Those are things you can practice in a classroom just as surely as you can practice them in a pool or on a field, and they will take you wherever your dreams lead.”
“We’re thrilled to have President Coventry join one of our Opening Ceremonies and see firsthand the excitement students and teachers have for the Champion Schools 34 program,” said Amy Garff, Utah 2034 Education Committee Chair. “Her presence is a wonderful recognition of the impact this program has on Utah students, and the opportunity we have to bring the Olympic and Paralympic values of excellence, friendship and respect to communities across our state.”
“Salt Lake City has spent nearly 25 years living with the legacy of the 2002 Games,” said Mayor Erin Mendenhall. “What we saw today is a reminder that the Olympic and Paralympic legacy isn’t static. Each generation inherits it, experiences it in a new way and gets the opportunity to shape what comes next. That is one of the most exciting possibilities of bringing the Games home again in 2034.”
A Surprise for Utah’s Next Generation of Athletes
Later Wednesday, Coventry joined players ages 14 to 16 from the Utah Lady Grizzlies at practice at the Salt Lake City Sports Complex’s Steiner Ice Arena.
The Lady Grizzlies are Utah’s only all-girls hockey organization, operated by the Utah Girls Hockey Association, serving players from across Utah and the surrounding Mountain West. Its teams have reached the USA Hockey Girls National Championships in five consecutive seasons, with both the 14U and 16U Tier II teams advancing in 2026.
Coventry watched practice, visited with players and talked with them about sport and the Olympic experience before presenting a gift from Utah 2034, given in connection with Utah Youth Sports Giving Day.
“What struck me today is that Utah’s Olympic legacy isn’t sitting behind glass — it’s out here on the ice and in buzzing venues throughout their communities,” said Coventry. “These players weren’t even born when the Games were here in 2002, yet they are training in a rink where Olympians trained during those Games and imagining what 2034 might mean for them. That is what legacy should do: keep opening doors for the next generation.”
For the players, the visit made 2034 feel less like a distant date and more like something they are already skating toward.
From classrooms where students are beginning to see themselves in the Olympic and Paralympic story to an ice rink still serving athletes more than two decades after the 2002 Games, Coventry’s visit offered a glimpse of the legacy Utah 2034 hopes to build over the next eight years. The Games may not return to Utah until 2034, but for a generation growing up alongside them, their impact has already begun.