Sept. 11 Tribute Is Planned at Olympics, but Not for TV

SALT LAKE CITY — Olympic organizers will honor Sept. 11 survivors and victims during the 2002 Winter Games’ opening ceremonies but not as part of the internationally televised program.

A tribute will occur in the hour before the show’s start, organizers say.

“It’s not designed to be a patriotic, American display,” Salt Lake Organizing Committee President Mitt Romney said. “While the experience of 9/11 certainly impacts all of us, there should not be a direct tribute in the ceremony itself.”

The committee may incorporate into the Feb. 8 event the American flag retrieved from the World Trade Center rubble.

Romney said he heard the Los Angeles and Atlanta Summer Games were criticized for being “so American.”

While Romney said he personally found the Los Angeles event fabulous, “around the world it was like, ‘Boy, those Americans, always beating their chests.’ ”

He wants to avoid a jingoistic tone next year.

“This is not our time to talk about how great America is and have our military parade up and down the field and so forth,” Romney said.