February 16, 2002
Hello,
Well my suspicions of how many Norwegian fans we have here appear to be correct. Today I found out that yesterday the crown prince and princess of Norway were here. The day before that the King and Queen of Norway were at our venue. I also found out that the Queen of Sweden has been here. We have also had quite a few Finnish spectators here. It has become very obvious how strongly the Scandinavian countries support their athletes and the Olympics.
I think the number crunchers here need to buy themselves a new calculator. Before we started they told us that they estimated we would have around 3,500 people a day at our venue, with one day being around 10,000. I don't believe we have had a day of under 10,000 spectators yet.Today we transported 13,700 people, yesterday was 17,300, the day before that 18,000. The capacity of the venue is rated at 14,790. It seems as if they don't know when to stop selling tickets. Despite the numbers, Soldier Hollow continues to gain the reputation of having the best transportation of all.
What continues to impress me is the attitude of all the people here. Everyone, from the volunteers, to the staff, to the spectators seem to all have a very positive outlook. Everyone has a smile. Even the whole security process doesn't seem to be bothering anyone. The feeling of the spectators is that they don't mind going through the security because they know why it is necessary and feel more secure knowing it is in place. The Fire Within, alive and well in Salt Lake.
Len
The sunrise over the hollow.
