[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 22 (Tuesday, March 5, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H666-H667]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                THE SALT LAKE 2002 WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Utah (Mr. Hansen) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend my home State of 
Utah for hosting, in the words of NBC sportscaster Dick Ebersol, ``far 
and away the most successful Olympics, summer or winter, in the history 
of the games.'' The State of Utah and their citizens were introduced to 
the world, and boy did they ever shine in the eyes of their national 
and international visitors. Never in the history of the Olympics has 
there been such a spirit of volunteerism exhibited by the host 
community. Visitors from around the world were duly impressed by the 
helpfulness and congeniality of the locals.

[[Page H667]]

 Salt Lake City, Utah, in the words of a Washington Post writer, is the 
``nice'' capital of the world.
  Mr. Speaker, not only did my home State shine in its hosting of the 
Winter Olympics, U.S. Olympians took home an unprecedented number of 
medals, 34 in all, placing a close second to Germany with 35 medals. 
The previous U.S. record for winter games was 13 medals. I commend our 
U.S. Olympic team for their tremendous showing. Furthermore, since the 
horrendous attacks on our country on September 11, United States 
citizens and the international community as a whole approached the 2002 
Winter Olympic games with some trepidation. Thanks to the united 
efforts of thousands of Federal, State, local law enforcement and 
National Guard personnel, the Olympic games went off without a single 
incident.
  Unfortunately, some in the press viewed the Olympics as a prime 
opportunity to take potshots at my home State and the predominant 
religion. Gladly, they were loudly renounced by our international 
visitors. Even the editors of their papers were compelled to apologize 
for their off-color remarks.
  To the gentleman who writes for the Denver Post who took a shot at 
the State of Utah and then later apologized, he said that our areas out 
there were for beginners. He has never gone down Grizzly. Grizzly is 
where the downhill is and Grizzly has a sign up there that says: ``Know 
your limitations. If you can't make this, take your skis, get on the 
gondola and go back down.''
  I used to ski, Mr. Speaker; but as I look at that, it is a 77 percent 
drop. You are doing 85 miles an hour in 300 feet. I have talked to a 
lot of the Olympians who said, ``That's the best men's downhill in the 
world.'' To Mr. Paige from the Denver Post who has a perfect right 
under the first amendment to blast all of us, I have talked to the 
president and owner of Snowbasin. He said, ``I have two tickets for Mr. 
Paige.'' We invite Mr. Paige to come to this beginners hill and for him 
to go straight down that hill. We do not want any of this back and 
forth stuff. We want a heckbent for election straight on down.
  I am sure the local TV people would find it very interesting to watch 
him do it, and we would love to have Mr. Paige come out. We offer him 
those free tickets to come out and see it.
  Mr. Speaker, I did not realize the custom is to ring a cow bell 
during the Olympics and cow bells were ringing everywhere. It was a 
wonderful experience for America. It reenergized us. We could see 
something we felt good about. It was emotional. The opening ceremony 
was wonderful. The closing ceremony was tremendous. The Olympians were 
great. I cannot think of a better Olympics that ever occurred. I agree 
with all the people who said that this was the best one ever.

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