French Officials Visit Utah Olympic Park, Explore Olympics Collaboration with Salt Lake City

(R-L) Frasier Bullock, Renaud Muselier, Colin Hilton, and Malena Stevens holding the 2002 Olympic Torch at the Olympic Museum in Park City after touring Olympic facilities and discussing France and USA's partnership within the IOC. Photo: Michele Roepke // TownLift

'This is a first where we have two preferred hosts for future Winter Games, collaborating together in partnership.' - Fraser Bullock, President and CEO, Salt Lake City-Utah Committee

PARK CITY, Utah — The Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games and the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation (UOLF) welcomed representatives from the Region Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur in France on Thursday at Utah Olympic Park (UOP). 

The delegation – featuring government, academic and tourism representatives – toured the ski training areas, sliding track and UOP museums before meeting with Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games and UOLF leadership. Region Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur is a coastal province in France home to several winter sport venues. 

The visit – part of a larger tour of Utah organized through the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity – aimed to exchange ideas and dialogue on ongoing Olympic and Paralympic legacy efforts, future Games hosting visions, and overall partnership opportunities between Utah and the French region.

SLC-UT CEO Fraser Bullock, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region President Renaud Muselier, Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation CEO Colin Hilton and Summit County Councilwoman Malena Stevens spoke to members of the media afterwards.

Salt Lake City-Utah and the French Alps entered targeted dialogue with the International Olympic Committee and were named the preferred hosts for the 2034 and 2030 Olympic and Paralympic Games, respectively, in November 2023.

Bullock said, “This is a first where we have two preferred hosts for future Winter Games, collaborating together in partnership.”

“We gave our delegates from France a nice tour of the Utah Olympic Park today and it was awesome,” said Hilton. “We had little kids doing after school ski programs, we had our elite training going on, we had team Ukraine and Kazakhstan training at our ariels hills, and we had public bobsled rides happening, so they see all of our efforts that we’re doing every day.” He continued, “Not only having posted a great Games in ’02 but the legacy of continuing and having these facilities ready for future Games. Our French guests were able to see just how we are continuing to help our community with our Legacy.” 

“Thank you from one mountain-loving team to another, we’re thrilled, what a beautiful opportunity,” Muselier said.

No major decisions were to be made during this visit, however, with the potential of Summer, Summer, Winter, Winter (2024, 2028, 2030, 2034) Games all within one decade between the U.S. and France, it certainly behooves both countries to create and maintain open dialogue on international, national, regional, and city-wide levels.

Park City Mayor Worel was involved in the visit and Muselier, the Governor of his French Region, mentioned as much touting his positive and productive working relationship with Gov. Cox.