After more than a decade on the Olympic beat, my favorite memories are of the folks I've met while covering the Games in Atlanta, Nagano, Sydney and Salt Lake City.
I'm not alone. Just before the 2002 Winter Games began, SLOC President Mitt Romney got a similar response when he asked a small group of American journalists he hosted at his Deer Valley home to share their most memorable Olympic stories.
Mine was about a young family at the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta. I ran into them the morning after a bomb tore through a crowd of celebrators in a downtown park, killing one woman and injuring 100 others.
The family had come to see for themselves the devastation caused by the bomb before attending an Olympic competition.
I asked them if they were afraid to be downtown. Although Olympic officials had said hours earlier that the Games would go on, no one could guarantee that the bomber wouldn't strike again.
The night before, the streets had been filled with civilian and military authorities while helicopters buzzed overhead. I later described it as being as close to a war zone as I'd ever expected to see in the United States. Even in the daylight, the scene was eerie. Downtown was deserted as investigators descended on the now-closed park.
But the family said it was important for them to be there. Not just to attend the event they'd purchased tickets for but also to show their support for the Olympics, which had brought the world to their home.
They started asking me questions about what I thought of the Games, which had already been criticized for transportation and technology troubles, as well as for the tacky street vendors throughout downtown.
They also wanted to know what competitions I'd seen. None, I told them. My assignment was to cover organizational issues of the Games. I recall that we talked for a few more minutes, and then the family headed off to their event. Then one of them — I believe it was the mother — returned.
She asked me to take one of their tickets and go to the event with them. She told me I needed to see what the Olympics were really about and, well, have some fun.
I didn't accept her offer, but I'll never forget it.
It showed me how much it means to residents of an Olympic city that visitors enjoy themselves and leave having some sense of what makes that city a special place to those who call it home.
What also stuck with me was the family's determination to leave the safety of the suburbs that day. They didn't want their empty seats to suggest that the bomber had succeeded in destroying the spirit of the Games.
Utahns had their opportunity to welcome the world over the past few weeks. And from all reports, the state's residents have made a lasting impression, especially the Olympic volunteers.
Nearly everyone I've interviewed about the success of the Salt Lake Games — from visitors to athletes to the highest-ranking Olympic officials, even other journalists — mentioned the friendliness of volunteers here.
No doubt they'll be telling stories at the next Games about the people they met in Salt Lake City.
E-MAIL: lisa@desnews.com