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American Morning
Utah Gov. Leavitt Discusses End of Olympics
Aired February 25, 2002 - 08:14 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: And joining us now for a look at these winter games and what they have meant to Utah is the governor of Utah, Mike Leavitt -- good to see you again, governor. Thanks for joining us this morning.
GOV. MIKE LEAVITT (R), UTAH: Thank you, Paula.
ZAHN: So we just heard the predictions that everybody believes that the amount of focus on the ski resorts will bring plenty more visitors to your state. But they're not so convinced that Salt Lake City will benefit so greatly. What do you think?
LEAVITT: I think our city and our state, generally, have benefited in several ways. First of all, when they -- when the games come to a city like this or to a state, everything improves. The highways improve, the restaurant service improves, the public safety improves. Everything improves, and that's already occurred.
Second, I think that the Utah brand is now known around the world. And we're known now as a competent place. A place that can put on an event like this. And we're also known for the warmth of our people and our natural beauty.
ZAHN: Let's talk a little bit about what Mayor Rocky Anderson just had to say about the weekend experience one might enjoy in Salt Lake City. When he said he wanted to keep that experience coming, was he implying that liquor will be continued to be served on weekends in Salt Lake City?
LEAVITT: You know, that issue was talked about mostly by Utahans, I might add, in the early stages. There were 1,305 places within the realm of the games where a person could get a drink. And I didn't hear anybody complain. I thought everybody had a great time.
ZAHN: So as far as you're concerned, you'd be satisfied if that policy continues?
LEAVITT: We didn't change for the games. So that experience has been available, will continue to be available, and this is a great place to live. I think what happened over the course of the last 17 days is that people have discovered that.
ZAHN: I know at the top of the interview, governor, you were talking so much about how the infrastructure of your state has improved. And I remember from my experience in Albertville, France, that a number of communities made huge investments in the infrastructure and they never felt like they benefited from that. Do you see that happening to any of your mountain communities, where they don't really get as much out of this Olympic experience that they bargained for?
LEAVITT: We were very careful not to build massive new infrastructure that wouldn't be used. For example, our athletes' village was -- is college housing. The stadium was just an expansion of an existing stadium. Our media center, we used our convention center. I believe that's one of the reasons that the games will deemed not just an athletic success and a cultural success, but it will be a financial success.
ZAHN: In closing, do you have any favorite Olympic stories? I know that to a certain extent some of the controversy surrounded some of the triumphs. But in your judgment, what was the best Olympic story?
LEAVITT: Well, my Olympics -- my favorite Olympics experience probably came at one of the figure skating events when they were cleaning the ice and they turned on the Rolling Stones. And "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" or "I Just Want to Shout" was another one. And they kept putting people's pictures up. And they had Chinese families dancing, waving their flag. And then a German family, and then a U.S. family. It was just a global celebration.
And they had the place cooking and rocking. And I just thought this is what the Olympics is about. This is about brining the world together. Eighty-three countries waving their flags and -- what really turned out to be a defiant statement to those around the world who would make terrorism the worry of our lives. We now demonstrated the world can come together and do it safely. And the Olympic values are alive and well.
ZAHN: Well it certainly was a pleasure to watch all of your celebrations.
Gov. Mike Leavitt, thank you for getting up so early to join us this morning. And continued good luck to all of your communities that hosted the Olympics.
LEAVITT: Thank you.
ZAHN: Take care.
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