PARK CITY, Utah — Among the relics and displays from the 2002 Games at Utah Olympic Park, you'll find a mannequin sporting bright pink hair.
"It is really crazy," said freestyle skier Shannon Bahrke. "To be able to walk into here and I think just remember a moment, you know, these Olympics happened right after 9/11 and it was a time when I really feel like the Olympics not only brought our country together, but they brought the world together."
As a silver medalist in the Salt Lake City Games, Bahrke's name has become synonymous with the 2002 Olympics. Now, she's become a champion for the next one.
"I can't sleep! I am so excited!," she said. " I just know that we're gonna recreate the same thing and there's gonna be other athletes that have their outfit in here, too, and that is so exciting."
Shannon hopes that excitement transcends to others.
"Most of the people that live in Salt Lake were not around to experience that," Bahrke explained. "So they have no idea what it means to have those athletes have impressions on their children, on their sports teams, on their family, on their friends, on their community."
For those who are already looking to put their homes up for rent to make some extra green instead of gold in 2034, Bahrke couldn't be more
"Don't do that," she cried out. "Stay here. Go to as many of the venues as you can!
"We can pay it forward, not only to the generation that will be here competing, but to their children.
It's also about training the next generation who didn't experience the Games to compete in them. Aside from training people on the slopes, Shannon is an inspirational speaker and even started her own company to train high school-aged athletes are mental toughness.
"The next generation is magical. I love being a part of their thought process, what they know to be true, what they want to be true, what they're willing to work for," she explained.
But there's one athlete you might say is a chip off the block.
"I have two kiddos, and I have a boy and a girl, and Zoe will be turning 11 here pretty soon and I love being a mom. I thought that being an athlete was my favorite thing in the whole world, but it turns out that I really, really love being a mom," Bahrke admitted.
Zoe Bahrke Happe is already a gifted skier, and in 2034 she'll be the same age as her mom was when she won the first U.S. medal of the Games in 2002.
"I would love it if Zoe could compete in these Olympics because competing on home soil for your country is the biggest honor that an athlete can ever have," mom shared. "But at the same time, I want her to carve her own path and whatever that means for her."
"But, man, walking in at the opening ceremonies in your home country is like a gift that I could just wrap it up in a bow and give it to her, I would, but she's gotta earn it."
For Zoe and hundreds of other athletes with dreams of Olympic gold, Bahrke thinks the 2034 Games will be built around success. Now, as a mentor and an inspiration, rather than an athlete, you can bet she'll be part of every moment she can.
"If I can help athletes that get to that moment in their career where they walk into a stadium or they see something and it is their moment that they want to do it, and I get to be a part of that journey like that, that truly lights my fire within."
