SALT LAKE CITY — Utah took another step toward securing its bid to bring the Olympics back to Utah by naming four-time Olympic speed skater Catherine Raney Norman to chair its bid committee.
Norman joins ten other Olympic and Paralympic athletes in an effort to bring the Games to the state in 2030 or 2034. The Winter Olympics were held in Utah in 2002.
This appointment follows the "Athletes First" directive the committee established beginning in February, 2020.
“As a future bid organization, we are really stewards of the Olympic and Paralympic movement,” said Raney Norman. “A major element of that stewardship is how we, in Utah, engage in all aspects of that movement to bring positive benefits to our communities.”
Also appointed was Larry H. Miller Group of Companies CEO Steve Starks, who was named to the governing board
by Governor Spencer Cox will also serve as the governor’s Olympic and Paralympic advisor.
Raney Norman, who competed at the 1998, 2002, 2006 and 2010 Olympics before retiring in 2010, served for a decade on the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee’s Athletes’ Advisory Council, becoming vice-chair.
As chair, she will be lead the committee’s vision and strategic direction, engage expertise across committee members, and provide oversight into the organization’s operations.
Three gold medal athletes were added to the committee’s governing board, including alpine ski racer Lindsey Vonn, speed skater Apolo Ohno, and Paralympic alpine skier Monte Meier.
Ohno is the most decorated Team USA Winter Olympian with eight medals. He was named to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Hall of Fame in 2019.
Vonn, who now lives in Park City, has won three Olympic medals including a 2010 gold in downhill skiing. Meier, of Midway, won four Paralympic medals including 1998 slalom gold in Nagano.
Seven additional athletes were named to the broader Strategic Board: Olympic figure skating medalist and Salt Lake City native Nathan Chen; Olympic nordic combined champion and Park City resident Billy Demong; three-time Olympic ice hockey medalist Meghan Duggan; Paralympic snowboard champion Noah Elliott; Olympic champion and Park City native Ted Ligety: Paralympic champion cross country skier and biathlete Oksana Masters; and Olympic luge silver medalist and Murray resident Chris Mazdzer.
