The Winter Olympics in Turin are making Utahns wax nostalgic for the Beehive State's days in the Olympic spotlight.

Utahns watching the events unfolding half a world away cannot help but recall the Olympic ice hockey games at the Peaks Arena, figure skating at the Delta Center and ski events in Park City. Or who can forget the Opening Ceremonies with Yo-Yo Ma and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir?

For some the emotions are akin to a woman seeing someone else's newborn child and getting the desire to have another baby and relive those wonderful days.

But should Utah host the Winter Olympics again?

It's not a crazy idea. In the 82-year history of the Winter Games, two cities have hosted the Olympics twice -- St. Moritz (1924, 1948) and Lake Placid (1932 and 1980).

Utah's main venues -- the speed oval, the bobsled, luge and ski jumps -- are still in good condition thanks to the Utah Athletic Foundation and the U.S. Olympic Committee using Utah's facilities for high-altitude training. Others such as the Peaks and the Delta Center are still functioning as commercial venues.

The initial investment has been made and a second Olympics could be done for less than the original.

Plus, Utah's games were extraordinarily successful. While most Olympic host cities wind up in the red, Utah's Olympic organizers made enough money to pay back the state its investment before the Olympic caldron had cooled down. The success was due in part to the army of volunteers who helped with the Olympics, as well as then-Salt Lake Organizing Committee executive Mitt Romney's ability to get sponsors to come back after the Salt Lake bribery scandal.

Then- U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said Utah did such a good job with the security aspects of the Olympics it should host future Games.

Hosting the Olympics again may give Utah a second chance at capitalizing on the opportunity to market Utah to the world, an opportunity Utah did not fully grasp in then- Gov. Mike Leavitt's "1,000 Days of Progress" drive.

But there are some obstacles.

First, it is not enough for Utah to volunteer to host the Games again. It would have to win support from the International Olympic Committee. Currently, the United States does not enjoy good will in some parts of the world, especially in some of the key IOC member countries such as France. The IOC may decide that the Games will not be coming back to America until it changes certain international policies.

Utah has another strike against it: It is the place where the IOC's bribery culture was exposed and destroyed. Some IOC members may see Utahns as the people who permanently derailed the gravy train. It may take a generation or more for that to blow over.

In addition, like the woman wistfully thinking about her past pregnancy, Utahns may have forgotten about the pain that came along with Olympic glory. During the Games, sections of Salt Lake City and Provo were closed off for security purposes, and even Temple Square had magnetometers and security guards rummaging through tourists' bags.

While some businesses did well, others had a bad run during the Games, either because of the security-mandated traffic closures or because they were not in a location that attracted a lot of foot traffic from visitors. Prices for parking, dinners and rent went up during the Games. There were also reports of people who were evicted from their apartments so landlords could rent them out for bigger bucks to Olympic visitors.

Then there is the question of whether Utah could repeat its spectacular success. Some of the elements remain, such as the venues and volunteers willing to help out, but there might be other less obvious variables that would be hard to replicate. Utah may have just been lucky and a second Olympics could wind up being a financial disaster.

But then worrying about the past pain would keep us from doing all manner of extraordinary things. Just ask women who decide to have more children.

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What do you think?

Should Utah play host to another Winter Olympics? Send your comments to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or call 344-2942. Please leave your name, hometown and phone number with your comments. E-mail comments should not exceed 100 words; voice-mail comments should be no longer than 30 seconds. Anonymous and unverifiable responses will not be published.

The Daily Herald will publish comments on Feb. 26.