{"id":460469,"date":"2026-02-10T16:45:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T16:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/460469\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T16:45:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T16:45:10","slug":"utah-gov-cox-promises-us-still-welcoming-place-as-state-preps-to-host-2034-olympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/460469\/","title":{"rendered":"Utah Gov. Cox promises US still welcoming place as state preps to host 2034 Olympics"},"content":{"rendered":"

MILAN — The United States is \u201cstill a very welcoming place,\u201d Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said Tuesday at the Milan Cortina Olympics<\/a>, which have been a focus of global concern about the country\u2019s political direction.<\/p>\n

The Republican governor faced pointed questions from European media at a news conference in Milan to promote the 2034 Utah Winter Games<\/a>, exactly eight years before the opening ceremony.<\/p>\n

The past Olympic week in Italy saw opinions on U.S. international diplomacy and domestic politics mixed liberally into the sports.<\/p>\n

U.S. Vice President JD Vance was booed<\/a> by fans at the opening ceremony; African members of the IOC quizzed organizers<\/a> of the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Games about visas for visitors; and U.S. athletes were asked about representing their country at this time \u2014 with President Donald Trump joining a backlash<\/a> against them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe care deeply about the political situation that is happening in the United States right now,\u201d Cox said, when asked by a German reporter to compare an upbeat Olympic vision from Utah with news from the U.S. shaped by Washington.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose are political issues that will be worked through,\u201d the governor said, reminding that eight years until the Winter Games return to Salt Lake City is \u201ca long ways away, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have elections just like your country, in Germany. We will see how those things turn out,\u201d said Cox, whose political style<\/a> has been to promote civility over polarizing divisions. <\/p>\n

The governor chided the media for asking U.S. athletes questions beyond sports, while adding \u201cI love that we get to live in a country where people get to speak their minds.\u201d<\/p>\n

He suggested what is broadcast on the television news \u201cisn\u2019t the only thing happening in our country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou will find it still a very welcoming place. We are a very welcoming country,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are some differences of opinion right now when it comes to the way that laws are being enforced. That will play out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cox shared the news conference with Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall and Utah Winter Games organizing officials including Sarah Hirshland, chief executive of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee.<\/p>\n

Hirshland defended Hunter Hess, who Trump called a \u201creal loser\u201d after the freestyle skier said at a news conference he was \u201cnot the biggest fan\u201d of all that is happening back home.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is important to us to ensure that anyone who is reacting to or commenting on something that someone said understands the totality and the context of what they said,\u201d Hirshland said. \u201cI have all the confidence in the world that every member of Team USA is proud to represent our country and understands the opportunity they have to bring people together.”<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are all here for that and that\u2019s exactly what we\u2019re going to,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP Olympics: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILAN — The United States is \u201cstill a very welcoming place,\u201d Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said Tuesday at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":460470,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[214922,190960,23,966,3,45567,111,99,21,19,22,20,25,24,45569],"class_list":{"0":"post-460469","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-214922","9":"tag-2026-milan-cortina-olympic-games","10":"tag-america","11":"tag-article","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-olympic-games","14":"tag-politics","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa","22":"tag-winter-olympic-games"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460469\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/460470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}