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News Release
July 16, 2003
Contacts: Kort Utley, (801) 538-1053

Team Utah Departs for Russia
Utah youth fly to Moscow to compete in Moscow-Utah Youth Games

Remember that time when you were a kid and you flew to Russia with 250 of your friends and competed in packed Olympic venues against Russian kids? It sounds like a dream, but for 250 Utah high-school-age kids, it’s not. What’s more, these young Utah athletes will only pay about 20% of the tab.

Today, 250 Utah high-school-age athletes and their coaches, known as Team Utah, board a chartered Russian airline and fly to Moscow. Governor Mike Leavitt and Jazz star Andrei Kirilenko will greet them in Moscow and cheer them on as they compete against Moscow youth in ten different sporting events. In addition to the competition, Team Utah will see Russia’s capital city, and will deliver wheelchairs to 500 Russians in a humanitarian gesture.

“This is an unprecedented opportunity for these young Utahns,” said Governor Mike Leavitt. “These are the kind of broadening experiences that help our youth know and understand the world they live in.”

The trip to Moscow is part of the Moscow-Utah Youth Games, an idea spawned between Governor Leavitt and Mayor Luzhkov during the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. The games feature summer sporting events in Moscow, July 19-28 and winter sporting events in Utah, February 2004. Olympic-style opening and closing ceremonies will kick-off and conclude the Games.

Neways International, a Utah-based company, helped make Governor Leavitt and Mayor’s Luzhkov’s dream a reality by becoming the official Utah sponsor of Team Utah. Neways’ generous contribution will cover almost 80% of Team Utah’s travel expenses.

Team Utah departs Salt Lake City International Airport at 2:30 p.m. via a chartered Aeroflot airliner. They will return to Utah, July 28.