Will supporting athlete mental health be the legacy of Utah's 2034 Winter Games?

SALT LAKE CITY — For Huntsman Family Foundation CEO David Huntsman, hosting the 2034 Winter Games in Utah is an opportunity to improve the support available to athletes around the world for their mental health.

"If there's one thing that's true, the Olympic movement has always had great power to do big things, to do hard things, to do difficult things," Huntsman said during a panel discussion at the International Olympic Committee's first-ever Olympism365 Summit in Switzerland.

"That, ultimately, is the legacy of the Olympics, beyond just the Games and the competing for medals. Legacy is defined by doing something impactful that's sustained over a long period of time," he said.

The big, hard, difficult thing he wants from the 2034 Winter Games?

Providing mental health care to athletes at all levels in all places, a goal that was warmly received at the two-day summit focused on "Building a Better World through Sport" that concluded Thursday.

Huntsman said "that truly can be the legacy that we leave behind after the closing ceremonies are over with that continues to benefit people and society, and in our communities, long after the Games are over with."

The moderator of the "Safer Sport and Safer Communities through Sport, Health Protection and Promotion" discussion, Ana Jelušić Black, encouraged his efforts. At 15, the three-time Olympic alpine skier from Croatia was the youngest competitor at the 2002 Winter Games in Utah.

"I wish you all the luck with that," she said as the audience applauded.

A Utah Olympic organizer says athlete mental health 'critical'

In the audience was Catherine Raney Norman, vice president of Development and Athlete Services for the 2034 Winter Games organizing committee and a four-time Olympic speedskater who also competed in 2002.

It was "a powerful moment for Utah to be represented by the Huntsman Family Foundation and the meaningful work they are leading in the mental health space," she told the Deseret News, calling mental health "a critical component of every athlete's journey."

Utah's Olympic organizers "are proud to work alongside the Huntsman Mental Health Institute to help ensure that all athletes have access to the support and resources they need, on and off the field of play," Raney Norman said.

She said the initiative could be a game changer.

"The collaboration between Salt Lake City-Utah 2034, the Huntsman Mental Health Institute, and the International Olympic Committee in the lead-up to the 2034 Games has the potential to reshape how the global Olympic and Paralympic community supports mental health in sport," Raney Norman said.

How athletes can help normalize mental health

Huntsman, who shared the stage with the CEO of the Tonga Health Promotion Foundation, Ofeina Filimoehala, described how his family gave $150 million to the University of Utah in 2019 to establish the Huntsman Mental Health Institute, the largest private gift of its kind at the time.

"I'm not a mental health expert. I'm not a health care professional. But as president of a large foundation, I recognize that mental health is our generational challenge," he said, adding, "Our goal is nothing less than to change the way we think about mental health."

The foundation, made up entirely of Huntsman family members, recognized that what had been done in the past wasn't working, he said, given that the number of people suffering was growing exponentially.

"Something needed to be done," Huntsman said. "What our hope and what our aspiration is, is that we can normalize mental health. That we don't think about it as some sub-category of our overall health, that we see it inseparably connected to our physical health."

When an athlete has a physical injury, he said, "They'll find the best doctor, they'll get X-rays, they'll get care to make sure that they heal sufficiently. But when somebody suffers from anxiety or from depression or from trauma, too often they don't seek the help they need.

"There's still shame, there's embarrassment, there's pain associated with suffering from mental health. The stigma is very strong, and that has to change. Mental health is not a moral failing, it's not a character flaw, it's not something that somebody does wrong to bring upon themselves."

Huntsman recounted how 15 years ago, he lost his older sister to "a terrible, violent death of despair. She struggled with mental health issues her whole life. As a family, we never talked about it. We missed an opportunity."

Sports can play a role in opening up those conversations, he said, citing the many athletes who have shared their own stories, such as U.S. Olympic gymnast Simone Biles, who made headlines when she withdrew from competing at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 to protect her mental health.

"It makes all the difference in the world," Huntsman said.

"Athletes in many cases are afforded a platform and a profile and a status in society where they're looked up to and they're respected," he said. "When they have the strength to come and talk about their experiences and their struggles, it makes it easier for others."

The #Olympism365 Summit marks a major step forward for safe sport, as the IOC and partners introduce new programmes to protect athletes' well-being, tackle abuse, and embed mental health in sport systems - locally and globally. 🤩

Read more 👇https://t.co/DiQ9siSCzRpic.twitter.com/dzpgsEXeYe

— IOC MEDIA (@iocmedia) June 5, 2025

Read the full article at Deseret.com.

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