2018 Olympian Casey Larson (red cap answering guest questions behind the information desk) is working at the Utah Olympic Park when he's not training at the Utah Olympic Park, or perhaps it's the other way around. Illinois' Larson just won the ski jumping national championships on Sunday. Photo: Michele Roepke

PARK CITY, Utah. — The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games are halfway over and ironically some residents of Park City, home to some of the most knowledgeable Olympic fans, are not watching. That’s because they simply don’t have much idle time for such activities. They are elite athletes way too busy working and training at the Utah Olympic Park (UOP).

From the bobsled, luge, skeleton side of ‘The Park’ to the nordic side and every pool and pipe in between, athletes of those sports can live, work and play at the UOP.

Take Jon Owen, for example, Owen has worked at the luge track since the day it opened. He’s the USA Luge Western Program Director and is a Calgary 1988 Olympian. Not originally from Park City, he’s called it home since the ’90’s, all the while updating a bumper sticker that reads, “Born in Maine, living in exile.”

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Janae Ricley, UOP Human Resources Director, says, “Hiring athletes is a priority for us.”

Adeline Swanson enjoys working and training there. She says, “It’s fun, it definitely keeps your schedule busy and it’s a really good learning experience for like how to balance training, having fun, and still working.” Swanson finished second in the USA Nordic US Cup on Sunday. She rents a room at The Residences at UOP literally in the shadows of the year-round hills on which she nordic ski jumps which makes it convenient for a hop, skip, and a jump to work and training but inconvenient for celebrating her 16th birthday last month away from her caring family back in Minnesota who love her and miss her and simultaneously support her athletic endeavors just about as much.

Even though the mission of the nonprofit United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) Training Site in Park City is to support elite athlete training, it doesn’t hurt the cause to have activities and rides like zip lines, ropes courses, tubing and passenger bobsledding on offer for visitors and guests to the UOP. Enter the Mountain Adventures.

Patrick Rosevear manages the Mountain Adventures at the UOP and is instrumental in the hiring and the hierarchy of athlete-employees. Rosevear says, “They play a huge role in what we do here at the UOP. It’s why we’re here, to help athletes achieve their goals and provide the opportunity for them to be a part of these world-class training facilities and such a great sports culture. We try to be incredibly accomodating to athletes’ schedules and harbor flexibility to work around their competitions and training. They add an immeasurable dynamic to what we do for our guests. Quite often when they’re talking with our guests it gives our guests a unique experience and perspective from the athlete’s point of view of how we can support the journeys of these elite athletes.”

Mountain Adventure Guide and Parkite Zev Rosenfield, 18, an integral member of the local community, competes in the skiing discipline of Big Mountain in the wintertime. In the summertime, however, he can be found, more often than not, operating the zip-lines for visitors and guests at the UOP. Rosenfield said, It’s great, I get to play hard and work harder.”

Chris “Hatch” Haslock, Park City Ski and Snowboard (PCSS) Director of Freeski Division, heralds athlete who works at the UOP, Brendan Newby, a half-pipe skier who also works coaching the PCSS devo and Freeski team. Newby represented Ireland in the Pyeong Chang 2018 Olympic Games and in Hatch’s words, “will probably represent Ireland again in 2022 in Beijing.”

Alan Alborn, a three-time Olympian, knows this venue like the back of his hand, He’s the former USA Nordic women’s team head coach/director/athletic director and current PCSS nordic program director/UOP snow venues manager. Growing up in Alaska, while Alborn trained at the UOP, he also worked there as a member of the hill crew. Those dedicated hours served him well as he represented Team USA in the sport of ski jumping in the Nagano 1998, Salt Lake 2002, and Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games. Alborn said, “Having the opportunity to work and train all at the same venue is invaluable and it’s perfect that the UOP goes out of their way to make it all happen for past, present, and future Olympians.”

So, even if they’re too busy to watch much Olympic coverage from Japan this summer, perhaps people in Park City will get to watch Olympic coverage of some of them from China this winter.