When Gov. Gary Herbert first launched the effort more than a decade ago to bring the Winter Games back to Utah, he was determined that next time the state should take the lead, not Salt Lake City.

As a Utah County commissioner during the 2002 Winter Games , Herbert saw little recognition for Provo as a site for Olympic ice hockey practices and competitions at the Peaks Ice Arena , built with the help of local taxpayers.

“We hardly got mentioned ever but we had a major venue,” he said, noting the same was true for other venue locations outside of Salt Lake City — venues in Park City, West Valley City, Kearns, Ogden and the Heber Valley, nearly all of which are set to be used again in 2034.

“So it wasn’t hard for me to explain to anybody that cared as we were putting this together

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