Governor, mayor among those welcoming Colorado Olympians and Paralympians back from Beijing Games
As Tyler “TC” Carter addressed a full house at the Olympic and Paralympic Museum on Friday, he reached into his pocket to retrieve a gift.
Carter, an alpine skier in three Paralympic Games, was voted by his teammates to be the flagbearer at the opening ceremonies in early March. The outfit he wore that night is already on display in the museum.
At least most of it.
In his pocket was the stocking cap he wore that night in Beijing, which he presented to the museum on Friday during a Welcome Home ceremony that counted Colorado Governor Jared Polis and Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers among those in attendance along with nine Olympic and Paralympic athletes with Colorado ties.
“It’s so special when you get events like this,” said Carter, who works as a supervisor with the museum’s guest experience team. “It’s such a hard experience to make it to an Olympics or Paralympics. It takes everything to make it to that point. So just having a moment like this, a night where we can recognize the athletes, where we can have a little bit of gratitude and honor them; it’s really special. To be one of those athletes right now, at the end of my career, makes it even more special.”
The other athletes honored were Olympians Hanna Faulhaber (freestyle skiing) and Sylvia Hoffman (bobsled bronze medalist) and Paralympians Garrett Geros (snowboarding silver medalist), Patrick Halgren (alpine skiing), Allie Johnson (alpine skiing), Kyle Taulman (alpine skiing), Thomas Walsh (alpine skiing silver medalist) and Pam Wilson (curling alternate).
“To have an event like this, to have the athletes come back together makes (the adjustment to returning home) a little bit easier just because they have that support system and that understanding of each other,” Carter said. “It really does help. It’s weird, but you feel fulfilled, relief and you’re hopefully catching up on that sleep that you didn’t have for the last three or four years.”
Suthers said he was happy to support the event and is proud of the branding that has been done in turning Colorado Springs into Olympic City USA. He said a recent survey showed that 65 of Colorado Springs residents could name the moniker when presented it as, “Denver is the Mile High City; Colorado Springs is (blank).”
“I think it’s very, very important to have events like this that emphasize how proud we are to be the domestic epicenter of the Olympic movement,” Suthers told The Gazette. “So I’m very, very supportive of events like this.”
Suthers and Polis were among the speakers at the event. Polis closed his remarks by acknowledging the museum and the athletes who will now be honored in it just as Carter’s opening ceremony outfit is.
“The premier storyteller of the Olympics is the Olympic and Paralympic Museum right here in Colorado Springs,” Polis said. “Welcome back, but also welcome to being part of the ongoing story of the Olympics.”
Danelle Umstead and Tyler Carter of the United States carry the flag as they arrive for the opening ceremony at the 2022 Winter Paralympics, March 4 in Beijing.
Colorado Governor Jared Polis greats patrons at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum in Colorado Spring at its Welcome Home event Friday, April 22.
Tyler “TC” Carter recognizes his fellow athletes at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum in Colorado Springs Welcome Home event on Friday, April 22.
Gov. Jared Polis speaks as the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum in Colorado Springs holds a Welcome Home event April 22.
