ON THE SIDELINES : Vote Boosts Utah Olympic Bid

SALT LAKE CITY —  Sponsors of Utah’s bid for the 1998 Olympic Winter Games, elated by voter approval of a multimillion-dollar sports facility building project, say it is time to prepare to “have the world come here.”

Voters on Tuesday favored by a 57%-43% margin a referendum asking whether state sales tax revenues should be spent on ski jumps, bobsled-luge runs and a speed skating oval to persuade the International Olympic Committee to stage the Games in the mountains and cities of northern Utah.

With 99% of the returns in, the vote was 211,385 to 161,736 in favor of diverting a fraction of the existing revenue to build the facilities the IOC requires of Olympic candidates.

The vote concluded a four-year effort by the Salt Lake City Winter Games Organizing Committee, which clinched the U.S. nomination when the U.S. Olympic Committee chose Salt Lake last June. Utah’s competitors include Nagano, Japan; Jaca, Spain; Ostersund, Sweden, and Sochi, Soviet Union.