The meaning of Salt Lake City’s 2002 Olympic cauldron at University of Utah

The sight of the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics cauldron on Friday kindled a memory in Spencer Eccles’ mind.

It was about 20 years ago. The clock was ticking and Utah still didn’t have a kettle or the funding for one – well, a decent one. Senator Mitt Romney, who was then President and CEO of the Salt Lake 2002 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games, came to Eccles, a Salt Lake Organizing Committee member and Mayor of Athletes Village that year, and quipped that they had the money for one but it wouldn’t look good at all.

“At one point – and I’m exaggerating here – he (he) tried to convince me that if our foundation did not step in with the funds for the cauldron, an important symbol of the Games itself, he would just have” enough money on budget … to buy some Weber charcoal grills, weld them together and raise the flagpole of the Rice Eccles Stadium, ”Eccles said with a chuckle. “And you can guess that surely caught my attention.”

That wasn’t much of an exaggeration, Romney admits. He said there was about $ 5,000 left in the budget and he would need “millions” to make sure the 2002 Games had a respectable cauldron.

Of course, anyone who’s watched the Olympics this winter knows that Salt Lake City wasn’t exposed to flagpoles and charcoal grills. Eccles, also chairman and CEO of the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation, helped raise the money needed to make sure Salt Lake City had one.

Now, with the 20th anniversary of the Salt Lake City Games approaching, the cauldron has been officially re-lit in a new place – at least temporarily – in a new location just outside the University of Utah’s Rice Eccles Stadium. Romney, Eccles, and others who either worked behind the scenes organizing or attending the Games came together Friday afternoon to unveil the new Salt Lake City Olympics and Cauldron Plaza Paralympic Games, and the cauldron after his recent renovation re-ignite.

A chaotic race to design and light the cauldron

Much of Friday’s event was spent reminiscing and sharing stories about the 2002 Games. There are plenty of wild stories to tell when it comes to the cauldron, even after the organizers walk past the flagpoles and grills.

WET Design, co-founded by Mark Fuller, a University of Utah graduate, was selected to design the boiler. Eccles remembers the flame that stretched over 3 meters and was visible throughout the Salt Lake Valley when the kettle was lit. That, Romney said, took up a lot of gasoline for fuel – so much he was told that “several people cooking their stoves went down” when the first test lighting took place at the company’s California studio.

The design itself was quite a challenge. After the “Light the Fire Inside” theme was chosen, organizers told Romney that they would likely need a kettle that reflected this in some way. The idea arose of making it out of glass so that it could look like the Olympic flame was burning in it. But this concept ran into several logistical problems.

“Mark Fuller and his team said, ‘Well, it’s great to have a fire in the glass, but do you know what fire does in the glass? It turns the glass black so it quickly turns all black and you don’t see any fire “, Romney recalled on Friday.

Senator Mitt Romney explores the University of Utah 2002 Olympic and Paralympic Cauldron Plaza during an unveiling ceremony at Rice Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Friday. Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

To make this possible, they were told that they would have to install “a series” of nozzles that pour water into the glass. Since the games were held in the middle of winter, they also needed a heater for the water so that the water could freeze easily.

The final product was constructed from hardened steel and 738 pieces of glass reminiscent of an icicle and assembled just in time to be set alight on February 8, 2002.

However, that night did not go smoothly. Romney explained that in order to light the kettle during the ceremony, you need a pilot flame to ignite the kettle. Two pilot lights were then installed to ensure that if one went out before the kettle was to be lit, a second was still there.

“And just before the opening ceremony, a strong wind struck and blew out both pilot lights. And there was no way to get there to light the thing,” Romney said.

He said there was a fail-safe plan, however: “A small flint and a long string so that in the worst case scenario you can pull that string and hopefully start the fire.”

That is exactly what happened that night nearly two decades ago.

“A few of us had our hearts in our throats,” Romney remembered that night.

Replace the boiler

The cauldron was finally moved to a location in the south end zone of the stadium in 2003. The crews then removed it in February 2020 at the start of a project to expand the seating in the stadium.

University of Utah President Taylor Randall said Friday that the 72-foot kettle has since been “completely refurbished,” including all of the glass panels that are now fitted with LED lights. It was placed on a large pedestal that itself contains a water fountain.

Randall added that the flame has also been updated to be “clean burning” which makes it more environmentally friendly than it was originally. As Olympic music boomed from the nearby stadium, it was re-lit on Friday in honor of the square’s reopening.

It stands next to information boards and works of art that form the new space outside the stadium. All new articles are available to the public free of charge.

The 2002 Winter Olympics cauldron burns brightly outside Rice Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Friday. The 72-foot cauldron does not rest on a stepping well outside the stadium. Carter Williams, KSL.com

Fraser Bullock, President and CEO of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games and Chief Operating Officer and Chief Finance Officer of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the Salt Lake 2002 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games, said there was a plan on February 8 Re-ignite the cauldron in 2022 in honor of the 20th anniversary of the opening ceremonies.

“Our legacy is our future”

While the cauldron may conjure up memories of what it took to get the Games off the ground, the 2002 Winter Olympics are still considered a gigantic success. Randall said the success likely helped propel Utah even further as a winter sports destination.

At a time when the host cities are losing money, the 2002 Olympics became both memorable and profitable. The 2002 Games are remembered as an event that brought the nation – and the world – together just months after 9/11.

“I think many of my ’02 teammates will agree that these Games were magical,” said Catherine Raney Norman, four-time Olympian and chair of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games.

It’s no surprise, then, that Salt Lake City has been pushing to host more Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games. Whether that happens remains to be seen.

At least Norman said the 2002 Games had an important legacy.

“I know the foundations we laid in ’02 will continue to propel us and inspire our youth,” said Norman. “I often hear (Bullock) say, ‘Our legacy is our future.’ Today we are surrounded by many of our athletes and community members who continue to live the Olympic and Paralympic values: faster, higher, stronger together. “