There were few counterparts across the globe for Brad Olch to turn to for advice in the 1990s as Park City prepared to have an important role in the Winter Olympics that would be held in the state in 2002.

Olch, the mayor of Park City for 12 years ending weeks before the start of the Games in 2002, was an instrumental figure in the municipal preparations and served on the organizing committee that put on the Olympics that year.

Olch on Monday recalled that one person who offered guidance in the early stages of the preparations for the Games in 2002 was a Frenchman. 

Michel Ziegler, who died recently, was the mayor of Park City’s sister city of Courchevel, France. The mountain resort city in the Alps was an important venue during the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France.

“He had great vision and a great love of the mountains. A great passion for all of the people in Courchevel,” Olch said.

The mayoral terms of Olch and Ziegler partially overlapped, and Olch said the two leaders learned from one another. He said Ziegler was in office in Courchevel when the sister-city relationship began. The two places were a “perfect fit” as sister cities, he said.

“He was looking for a sister city for Courchevel. He looked at all the Colorado resorts, and talked to them, and then he visited Park City,” Olch said.

The Winter Olympic connection between the two places remains notable, with both Park City and Courchevel having a Games history and each place preparing for another one. Courchevel is on the 2030 Winter Olympic map as a competition venue, while Park City is a key to the plans for the Games of 2034.

The Winter Olympics of 1992 were staged at a time when the Games boosters in Utah were bidding for a subsequent event. Park City, with Olch as the mayor, by the winter of 1992, was involved in the Salt Lake City bid. Olch said he traveled to Courchevel for the Games of 1992 as the guest of Ziegler.

“It was an opportunity for them to elevate their game” and bring attention to the community, Olch said, likening the experience of Courchevel to that of Park City during the Games of 2002.

Olch said he learned from the Courchevel experience during the Winter Olympics about the importance of cooperation between “all the different factions” as a Games is planned. The issues included transportation and ensuring the residents were not overlooked during the Games, he said.

“They had the same challenges in a lot of ways,” Olch said as he spoke about the Winter Olympics in Courchevel in 1992 and in Park City a decade later.

Olch hosted Ziegler during the Games of 2002, which were held weeks after he retired as the mayor of Park City.

He also described Ziegler as a key figure in the development of the airport in Courchevel.

The sister-city relationship between Park City and Courchevel remains intact. A group of Courchevel students was, by happenstance, in Park City in 2024 at the time of the announcement of the locations of the Winter Olympics in 2030 and 2034.

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Park City and its sister city are each planning for a Winter Olympics.

The Alps community of Courchevel, France, is set to play an important role in the Games of 2030 while the Park City area is a key to the plans for the Winter Olympics in 2034.

The upcoming Games in the two places could be a topic for discussion in coming weeks as a delegation from Courchevel travels to Park City. Mayor Nann Worel provided information about the upcoming trip during a Park City Council meeting on Thursday. She indicated the Courchevel contingent is scheduled to arrive in Park City on Aug. 30 and depart on Sept. 6. The mayor of Courchevel is slated to lead the eight-person delegation, Worel said.

She said the travelers want to study the tourism industry of Park City, including the efforts to attract visitors outside of the traditionally busy ski season.

“Their goal while they’re here is to learn how we became a year-round, vibrant city. And they have a really vibrant winter season and then they kind of roll up the sidewalks during the summertime. And they want to change that,” Worel said, adding the schedule includes discussions with the Park City Chamber/Bureau and other organizations.

The mayor did not provide a detailed rundown of the itinerary for the travelers.

It seems almost certain representatives from Park City and Courchevel will address the Games of 2030 and 2034, at least at some level, with the visit planned at the outset of the Olympic eras in both places.

The International Olympic Committee in July awarded both of the events. The Games of 2030 will stretch through a swath of the south of France while the 2034 Winter Olympics will be based in Salt Lake City with competition venues across northern Utah.

The Park City area is crucial to the concept for the Games, with Park City Mountain, Deer Valley Resort and the Utah Olympic Park identified as important competition venues. The area will also be heavily involved in the transportation, security and celebration plans. The Courchevel area in the Games of 2030 is expected to host skiing, ski jumping and Nordic combined competitions, making it one of the keys to the event.

A delegation from the south of France visited the Park City area in January in an effort to learn about the efforts to stage a second Games in the state and about the legacy from the 2002 Winter Olympics. The trip included a stop at the Utah Olympic Park.

The president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur regional council, Renaud Muselier, led the French delegation in January, expressing confidence in the region’s ability to stage a Games. He said the French Alps are predicted to have adequate snow to host an Olympics through the middle of the century.

A group of Courchevel students, meanwhile, was in Utah in July as part of a student-exchange program. The stay coincided with the IOC selections of the Games of 2030 and 2034 hosts.

Worel at the meeting on Thursday also said a delegation from Park City, including herself, traveled to Courchevel in 2023 to attend skiing championships to learn “how they organize their events and how they deal with their transportation challenges, etc.”

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There was widespread excitement in Park City on July 24 as the International Olympic Committee selected Salt Lake City as the host of the 2034 Winter Olympics.

And there was also likely a round of cheers in the community as the IOC also selected France as the host of the Games of four years earlier, as a sprawling bid involving the south of France and the Alps was named the host of the 2030 event.

A group of students from Park City’s sister city of Courchevel, France, was in the state from July 20 until Sunday, a time period that included the announcement of the locations for the Winter Olympics in 2030 and 2034, as well as the celebrations making the selection of Salt Lake City. It was by happenstance that the students were in Park City at the time, but their presence added a different dimension to the historic day. Courchevel is identified as a location for some of the competitions in the Games of 2030.

Park City and Courchevel operate a student-exchange program, and the 16 students, ranging in age from 16 to 18, were in Park City as part of the exchange, along with four chaperones. Park City students were in Courchevel in February.

“It’s almost destiny,” Tina Quayle, the president of the Park City Sister City Association, said about the awarding of the two Games at the same time and as the French students were in the community.

Quayle said there will be opportunities for the sister cities to engage as they each plan for their respective Games. She said they can learn from each other as they prepare. Quayle predicted a group from Park City will travel to France for the Games in 2030 as part of the preparations.

“You can bet there will be a contingent invited to the Olympics in 2030,” she said. “I’m certain there will be.”

Quayle said the officials in Park City who plan for the Games can learn from the French as they ready the 2030 event. She said, as an example, the French excel at putting on a spectacle.

“Their showmanship when it comes to fireworks, drones, lights … putting all of that together,” she said. “They know how to put on a show. And their shows have a French flavor, which is different than an American flavor.”

She pointed to the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Paris as she spoke.

The Park City area is critical to the plans for a second Games in the state, as was the case during the 2002 Winter Olympics. Park City Mountain, Deer Valley Resort and the Utah Olympic Park are identified as key competition venues. The area will also be important to the traffic, security and celebration plans.

The student exchange followed in the months after a contingent from the south of France visited the Park City area as part of a wider mission to Utah in an effort to learn about the Games. An official from the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur regional council led the French delegation in January, expressing confidence in the region’s ability to stage the Games and saying the French Alps are predicted to have adequate snow for a Winter Olympics through 2050.

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