Team Captain in Deseret News Vancouver 2010 article

Recently Team Holm Racing's team captain and driver, Jeremy Holm, was interviewed by journalist Dennis Romboy for Utah's Deseret News newspaper regarding travel expectations for the upcoming Vancouver, B.C. 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

Here is a copy of the article originally published August 25, 2008. To read the original please click here.

Now that Beijing has bid the world zai jien, it's aboot time to brush up on your Canadian, eh?

The Olympics return to North America in 2010, specifically to Vancouver, British Columbia, a city only one time zone and 975 miles from 2002 Winter Games host Salt Lake City.

The countdown to Vancouver began as the Bird's Nest exploded in fireworks Sunday, closing the umbrella on the 2008 Summer Games. No more swimming, running and gymnastics. The Winter Games — think skating, skiing and sliding — are less than 18 months away.

"It will be here before we know it," said Salt Lake attorney Randy Dryer, a former Salt Lake Organizing Committee member.

Utahns have long since recovered from their Olympic hangover. But their proximity to Vancouver might give them cause to take off and party anew in the land of Mounties, maple leafs and Barenaked Ladies.

"I think the Olympic fever still exists, especially here in Utah," said Jeremy Holm, an American bobsledder and Morris Murdock Travel media relations manager.

"It's amazing to see how many people are watching the Beijing Olympics," he said. "I think it's going to be the same thing when Vancouver comes."

The Winter Games have a built-in fan base in Utah made up of thousands of 2002 volunteers and officials many of whom still don their Olympic jackets when the weather turns cold. Utahns also are big on winter sports as participants and spectators.

Murray resident Susan Kempff, who worked as a volunteer and luge official in 2002, already has Vancouver on her mind.

"I'm really excited about it. I'm really looking forward and hoping to go," she said, adding she'd like to be there as an official but maybe more as a spectator this time.

Having seen winter sports up close, she finds the Winter Olympics more appealing than the Summer. "Seeing it live is so much better than seeing it on TV," said Kempff, also an avid pin trader.

Statements like that bode well for local travel agencies. Salt Lake is "definitely going to have travel potential," Holm said.

Tourism British Columbia sees it that way, too. It's marketing campaign aimed at the West will hit TV and the Internet next spring. "That whole area is incredibly important to us," said Janice Greenwood-Fraser, travel-media specialist.

Besides being close to Vancouver, travelers won't face a language barrier or roundabout flights to the Great White North. All they'll need are tickets, which go on sale in October, and a tuque.

Morris Murdock intends to offer travel packages during the games as well as guided tours before and after, Holm said.

Utah not only will supply tourists to Vancouver but will be a competitor pipeline as well.

With its Olympic venues in Park City and Kearns, the state will play a key role for national and international athletes gearing up for gold-medal runs in 2010. Of the 200 U.S. athletes who competed in the 2006 Torino Games, 66 trained in the Beehive State.

"The interesting dynamic is us being, if you will, a stopping point on the way to Vancouver," said Colin Hilton, president of the Utah Athletic Foundation, which manages the state's Olympic facilities.

World Cup events in long- and short-track speedskating, freestyle skiing and bobsled and skeleton are planned for both 2008 and 2009.

Also, teams from around the world will create home bases in Utah in early 2010 to practice and make final preparations for the games, Hilton said.

Utah also has other connections to Vancouver.

Hilton estimates at least two dozen people who helped stage the Salt Lake Olympics work as consultants for the Vancouver Organizing Committee.

Fraser Bullock, former SLOC chief operating officer, serves on the International Olympic Committee's coordination commission, which keeps tabs on venue preparations. Also, former SLOC director of sport Cathy Priestner Allinger works as an executive vice president for VANOC.

The Darfur Crisis: Making a Difference

For the past few days I have found myself reading "Not On Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond" a book by actor Don Cheadle and activist John Prendergast. I've had the book now for a few months thanks to my joining Team Darfur, and although I wanted to continue to take an active part in all that Team Darfur and the Save Darfur group are doing to bring an end to the conflict, the book just sat on my shelf. I wear my Team Darfur wristband everyday, especially during training or when I'm at any event as an athlete. But still, the book sat on the shelf. But there was something about the haunting look in the little child's eyes on the cover of the book and I knew that I needed to sit down and read.

And I couldn't stop.


Since joining Team Darfur, I've had access to some incredibly eye-opening (and heartbreaking) photos, videos, statistics, articles, and reports about the tragedies occurring daily in the Sudan. I cannot imagine the horrors and fears that these people have to face everyday. Children who have to walk hundreds of miles carrying their baby brother because their parents were killed before their eyes. Mothers who must choose to let their families starve....or walk miles into the desert for firewood where they might be found by roving militias and murdered or raped. Just imagine, while we sit comfortably at our desks, imagine for a moment living in daily fear of having your village burned, the women raped and then enslaved, and the men and livestock killed and left to rot in the sun. If you're a parent, imagine having to watch your children shot, enslaved, or sometimes thrown into raging fires to burn alive.

It isn't a very pretty picture is it? The worst part about it is that it happens every day in Darfur.

I think that is why I couldn't stop reading "Not On Our Watch." It made me uncomfortable (there were plenty of times that I wanted to close the book) and I knew that the discomfort was my conscience calling for action. It is so simple for us to say, "Oh, I give money to the Red Cross" or "Darfur is so far away, what does it have to do with me?" or one of a million other conscience-soothing excuses we give to lull ourselves into a sort of mental security about our inaction.

Here are a couple of quotes to think about:

"Conviction is worthless unless it is converted into conduct." -- Thomas Carlyle

"You may think your actions are meaningless and that they won't help, but that is no excuse, you must still act." -- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

"All that is essential for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." -- Edmund Burke

So, what can we do about it? Team Darfur has compiled a wonderful list of actions that can be taken to help bring about an end to this conflict that has already destroyed hundreds of thousands of lives.

Although we get readers from all over the world, I'm betting most will recognize these words:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness..," one of the most famous phrases in the United States Declaration of Independence.

I think about the stories that I've read about the Darfur victims, about the families who are living in plastic boxes with tin roofs in the middle of the desert. I think about the children who kick rocks around the refugee camps because they have no other earthly possessions. I think of eight year old girls who become the mother for her three younger siblings because there is no one left in their family. I think of the humanitarian aid being blocked and/or stolen by corrupt government officials and the raiding parties.

I never thought I'd find myself as an activist. I'm not sure that is even the right phrase anyway. To me, while growing up an activist was a "tree-hugger" or slightly crazy hippie. They lived off of granola and ranted and raved about this that or the other.

But after reading all that I have about Darfur, I find myself asking: how can I not do something? Even if it isn't much, I have to do something. We all do. If not us, who? If not now, when? So I'm asking you, not as an athlete but as a fellow human being, let's do what we can. Again, Team Darfur has a great list of suggested actions to take.

Here is a list by country of what you can do.

To order a copy of "Not On Our Watch" click here.

If you're not sure what is occurring in Darfur at this time, please click here.

Again, you might not be able to change the world. But if every step you take, every act you make rescues just one life...didn't you just save their world?

The New Blog Layout

So, sure, it's summer and sometimes we struggle for stuff to write about on the blog! But this is something pretty big!

Ok, maybe not THAT big, but we decided that after a year and 60 posts, it was time to change the look of our team blog. Let's be honest, sometimes you just need change and with all the time I've had being bedridden and injured, I've had plenty of time to do it!

So we went for a cleaner and more simple look. White and blues for the snow and ice, of course with a sweet header thrown in for looks. We're still working on updating our links to other blogs (we lost them all when we updated) so if you have a blog that you'd like us to list, please email us and include a link to your blog.

Also, we'd love to hear your feedback about the blog's new look. We have a pretty simple poll running on the top right of the blog, but we'd love any additional thoughts you might have or suggestions. Just shoot us an email!

Thanks everyone!

What does it mean to be an Olympian

It doesn't take much for someone to change their opinion of you. One second you can just be another average person on the street, but the moment you tell them that you are involved in an Olympic sport, whether summer or winter, something changes in their eyes. They view you in a different light. Some immediately wonder if you are rich, others want an autograph, and still others want to know what you do for training or even if you allow yourself to eat ice cream.

It took me awhile to get used to this sort of attention, the way you could stop conversation in a room with a simple utterance of what sport you participate in. I was the shy kid in Junior High School, a bit more of a "nerd." Certainly not someone that you would imagine would participate in the winter sport of bobsledding, hurling himself down icy tracks at 80 MPH in a 1,400-pound fiberglass and steel missle. So participating in televised races, fundraisers with huge crowds, and speaking engagements for large groups all placed me in positions where I'd often be the center of attention.

All because I had an Olympic dream.

I spent a lot of time wondering what the big deal was. I confess, I never really watched the Olympics growing up. To me they were just another sporting event that, much like the Super Bowl, I couldn't understand why everyone got so excited about it.

But as the years went by I think I got, at least in part, what "the big deal" was.

When you grow up surrounded by world class athletes, you come to see that they are a very different type of people. They eat, sleep, and live their dreams. They sacrifice and pay the price with their blood, sweat, toil, and tears. Through hours and hours of monotonous training, despite injuries and setbacks, they push on towards the achievement of their goals. Common men and women who CHOOSE to become uncommon, all because they are willing to place it all on the line for the sake of even once chance, just one chance, to stand before the world, represent their country, and place their dreams on the line. All to see if maybe, just maybe, they can prove they are the best in the world.

What does it mean to be an Olympian, or Olympic hopeful, then?

Perhaps Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States said it best:

Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure...than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.

Why do people around the globe love the Olympics so much? Why are Olympians (past, present, and future) held in such high esteem?

Hope. I think it all boils down to hope.

Olympians (again, meaning past, present, and future ones) are full of hope. Hence the reason they are so often sought after as motivational speakers! But that optimism, that light, that unquenchable fire to dream rubs off onto the rest of the world and kindles, or in some cases rekindles, fires in the spirits of those who watch, meet, or read about these athletes and their triumphs.

As we feel their inner fires warm our own hearts, we begin to believe in our own hopes and dreams. We watch the Olympics and remember that the world really can live in peace, that men and women from different nations can come together on the field of sport, shake hands, and compete against each other without hate. We watch, and in their dreams we find the strength to pursue our own dreams. Their hope gives us hope and in the end, we believe.

Olympians, like the Olympic torch itself, light the way for individuals everywhere to find their own way in a world that sometimes seems dark through war, famine, and disaster. Their examples, their courage, and their dedication all point as evidence toward the simple fact that as human beings, when we choose to, we can rise above the mundane and truly achieve anything we put our minds to.

I think that is why I am so proud to be a member of Team Darfur, an international coalition of athletes committed to raising awareness about and bringing an end to the crisis in Darfur, Sudan. When I look at what the incredible Team Darfur athletes are doing around the world to end this conflict that affects a people that most of us have not and will never meet, I can't help but stand a bit taller to know that I am a part of it. It is something we have put our minds to with a hope that we can help end the suffering of our fellow man, raise him up with the hand of friendship, and stand shoulder to shoulder with him as he pursues his own life's goals.

As athletes, 130 of us signed a formal letter that was sent to the government of China asking for an Olympic Truce to be implemented during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. An Olympic Truce calls for the cessation of hostilities for a period before, during, and after the Olympic Games. Our Olympic Truce calls for China to intercede in the genocide occurring in Darfur that daily affects thousands of people in horrible ways that most of us can hardly fathom. While leaders from around the globe sat back behind the comforts of speeches, Team Darfur stepped forward to request China take responsibility in this matter.

This was an incredible risk to Team Darfur athletes, 70 of whom are now preparing to compete for their countries in the Games. While perhaps not in direct response to the letter, our co-founder Joey Cheek's visa to attend the Games was revoked without explanation. Now, knowing that, place yourself in the shoes of those 70 athletes who believe in Team Darfur enough to be willing to place their Olympic chances on the line.

Maybe, in the end, that is what Olympians really are. They're reminders that we all have a responsibility to live up to the potential within us. That we can't always sit back in our comfort zones, content with living our own lives. That sometimes we have to stand for something. That if we want to be great we have to do what needs to be done, not just what we want to do. We have to take risks. We must reach out beyond our limits, step into the darkness, and find the light we never knew we had and then share that light with others.

Perhaps that is why the world loves Olympians so much.

They are willing to share their light with the entire world and they brighten our lives because of it.