Gwen Springmeyer is a little melancholy.
For the past five years, Springmeyer was an integral cog in the clockwork of the U’s Olympic experience.
“I can’t think what I used to do before the Olympics,” said Springmeyer, the associate director of the U’s Office of Olympic Coordination.
The walls of the Olympic office, once plastered with Winter Games paraphernalia, are now bare. “Unless something unforeseen happens” the office’s work is over, said Wayne McCormack, Olympic office director.
Since the Paralympic Games concluded, the office has been assembling the final Olympic report for the U, which summarizes everything the U has done from the bid award in 1996 until now, according to Holly Smith, Olympic office spokeswoman.
The report mostly consists of feedback from virtually every segment of campus from student government to the University Hospital, which has been “overwhelmingly positive,” she said.
The report includes feedback from department of communication students who worked for International Sports Broadcasting, which broadcasted the Games. The students earned $150 to $175 per day, plus perks such as going to events or getting free clothes.
Springmeyer expects the report will be finished at the end of May. The report will include an assessment of what post-Olympic repairs the campus might need, such as the restoration of Stillwell Field in Heritage Commons, which became the athletes village in January. The flags of all participating countries were posted on the field, which damaged the ground. Springmeyer expects the field will be restored this summer.
One of the positive by-products of the Olympics, noted not only by Springmeyer but others across campus, is the way Olympic coordination brought together departments that had no contact otherwise.
The Transit Now campaign, which encouraged commuters to use TRAX and buses instead of cars, brought together Parking and Transportation Services, U public relations, the department of environmental studies and others.
“I just think that’s incredible that they would form partnerships like that,” Springmeyer said.
One of the feathers in Springmeyer’s cap is that her office came about $50,000 under its $262,000 budget for fiscal year 2002.
The budget planned a number of “worst case scenarios,” Springmeyer said, such as equipment, advertising and travel expenses the office never needed to worry about. When U Olympic officials created the budget, they were trying to guess what might go wrong, and nothing did.
“There was no need for us to be so afraid,” she said.
Springmeyer’s contract with the U expires on June 30. She’s hoping to find a different job with the university so she can stay.
“As far as I’m concerned, it’s like working in Camelot,” she said. “President Machen is King Arthur.”
Before coming to the U, Springmeyer worked in the Utah State Department of Corrections.
“People are nice here, I haven’t found one single person who wanted to stab me in the back,” she said.