Ready or not, the Olympics are coming. While the Games are still a few months away, preparations have begun.
The role the University of Utah will play during the 2002 Winter Olympics Games includes accommodating about 3,500 athletes and trainers, according to Gwen Springmeyer, associate director of Olympic coordination.
A fence, which the Salt Lake Organizing Committee will complete in the next several weeks, has begun to take shape. It will be the perimeter of the Olympic Village and provide security for its athlete residents.
Starting on the northeast?the most remote end of the village, just at the foot of the Bonneville Shoreline trails?the fence will soon make its way down toward lower campus.
According to LaDon Roeder, assistant director of residential living, inconvenience caused by the changes should be minimal for the time being.
?Right now, it is all in less visible, less intrusive areas,? Roeder said.
SLOC has taken careful consideration to ?not intrude on students? living space,? until it?s absolutely necessary.
?They?re being careful about noise and blocking issues,? Roeder said.
Although there is no specific date by which SLOC will complete the fence, the village will be secured by the early half of January, according to Roeder. In other words, entry will be limited.
The fence will provide security for the athletes and display space for the community, Roeder said.
?Students will notice about the fence that as much as it?s a security installation, the Olympics will put a lot of visual fabric on it so it becomes a decoration of the Games,? he said.
The fence, which is being built in sections, will soon make its way closer to the front of Wasatch Drive, between 400 South and Medical Drive?where it will end.
Students have not questioned the fence?s presence yet.
?The thing of interest is, I?ve seen students are getting excited about the Olympics,? Roeder said. ?It?s going to be all over the news, and they?re getting a chance to be a part of it.?
While there have been relatively few objections on the part of students living in the residence halls, Roeder is concerned that as the Games draw nearer, ?it will be more difficult to be less intrusive?but we?ll strive to keep it minimum.?
With so much work to do in such short time, the Olympics are creeping up at an incredible pace, he said. Roeder was pleased with student response and the way things have been planned.
?SLOC has been able to respect the educational environment,? he said.