Recently, local officials including Ogden Mayor Ben Nadolski, Weber County Commissioner Jim Harvey, Snowbasin Resort Chief Operating Officer and General Manager Davy Ratchford, Ogden City Chief of Staff Cindy Weloth and Visit Ogden President and CEO Sara Toliver spent around a week at the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics as part of the International Olympic Committee’s Observers Programme that gives future Olympic host cities and entities a chance to get a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to host the games.

In a press release to the Standard-Examiner from Ogden City, the Ogden delegation — which was accompanied by officials from Park City, Summit County and other municipalities across the state — discussed some of the group’s findings and their time in Italy.

Brad Wilson, CEO of the Utah 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Organizing Committee, emphasized why local elected officials were specifically selected.

“It’s common for elected officials to assume they have plenty of time before major decisions need to be made,” he said in the release. “One of the greatest values of the Observer Program is alignment and calibration. It helps communities understand exactly what will be required for success. We need them going into this process eyes wide open, comfortable with their commitments, and prepared to execute at a high level. We want our communities to love the Olympics and Paralympics, and to feel blessed by the experience long after the flame is extinguished.”

This was in no way a vacation for the delegation to sit back and watch Olympic competition.

While the delegation was able to see portions of competition, those moments were limited and typically part of operational walkthroughs with the majority of time being spent behind the scenes observing how the Games function.

“We were not there for game attendance,” Harvey said in the release. “We were there to understand the machinery behind the Games — the command centers, security integration, municipal coordination, and venue logistics that make competition possible.”

According to the release, “each day, participants were assigned to operational tracks aligned with their responsibilities. City leaders, venue operators, tourism officials, and administrators were placed in focused sessions designed to match their decision-making roles.”

Weloth said some long days were necessary.

“We worked roughly 12-hour days as the norm, not the exception,” she said in the release. “Walking eight miles a day wasn’t a peak day — it was typical. We were moving constantly between venues, briefings, and operational areas. We worked hard. There wasn’t downtime.”

Additionally, the release notes that the delegation attended seminars on the following:

• “A day in the life of an athlete
• A day in the life of a volunteer
• A day in the life of a Games-time staff member
• Security and command structure operations
• City services integration
• Clear delineation of responsibilities between the IOC, the local organizing committee, host municipalities, and international sport federations”

Nadolski said that it was an amazing experience but also an eye-opening one.

“Being that close to the Olympic Games was unforgettable,” he said in the release. “But what struck me most was the sheer scale of work required. When you see the coordination — infrastructure, transportation, security, venue integration — you realize eight years is not a long time. In infrastructure planning, it’s barely enough.”

He said even with the Olympics several years off, he will be putting some of these lessons into action in the coming months.

“This isn’t about thinking about legacy. It’s about acting on it immediately,” he said. “I will be making budget recommendations in just a few months that will set the stage for years of planning, investment, and grant leverage. The decisions are not someday — they are now. In some cases, I wish we had started yesterday.”