Olympic battle divided the state
By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com
Time now for us to recall a Colorado Olympics that never was.
In
the early 1970s, the hosting of the games offered the promise
showcasing Colorado, the Centennial State in its centennial year. Area
high school students competed in essay contests to go to the summer
games in Munich in preparation. Resorts and ski areas began gearing up
for the onslaught of tourists. Politicians touted the benefits of a
global presence in local arenas.
“The
International Olympic Committee gave the 1976 Winter Olympics to Denver,
but in 1972, Colorado voters rejected a $5 million bond issue to
finance the undertaking. Denver immediately withdrew as host and the IOC
called on Innsbruck, site of the 1964 Olympics,” according to
InfoPlease.
“Denver withdraws and the united
States Olympic Committee unanimously names Salt Lake City as the
replacement candidate city to host the 1976 Olympics Games. In February
of 1973, the IOC chose Innsbruck, Austria, to hosts the 1976 games,”
according to Utah Travel & Adventure.
In
the file for “what might have been,” Coloradans could place a
19-year-old Dorothy Hamill collecting Gold in figure skating in
Innsbruck then for the 1976 games, and Bill Koch winning the first-ever
cross-country skiing medal for the United States by taking silver in the
30-kilometer.
“The vote was really one for
conservation and the environment,” wrote Richard Ellis and Duane Smith
in their 1991 book “Colorado: A History in Photographs.”
“Taxpayers wanted their money to go for something other than stimulating growth.”
The
battle divided the state, pitting then Colorado Governor John Love and
Denver Mayor William McNichols against leading opponent Richard Lamm.
Lamm used this effort to springboard into the governor’s office where he subsequently served three terms.
Lamm used this effort to springboard into the governor’s office where he subsequently served three terms.
“The
pro-Olympics faction had blundered badly and misjudged the changing
attitudes of Coloradans. For the first time in the history of the state,
the idea to ‘sell Colorado’ had been dealt a major blow,” according to
Ellis and Smith.
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1 comment:
As subsequent years have revealed, even constructing the required I-70 (Vail Pass to Glenwood Canyon) in the short time required, would have been a disaster. My lack of support & vote against still stands.
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