Several Olympic gold-medalists are praising Mitt Romney's handling of the 2002 Winter Olympics in a new ad released on Monday.
The ad by the pro-Romney super-PAC Restore Our Future, titled "Olympics," features Olympic gold-medal winners Kristi Yamaguchi, Jimmy Shea and Derek Parra, and is set to air during the 2012 London Olympics.
"As an athlete, you're training your whole life for that one moment at the Olympics ... Mitt Romney brought a huge sense of hope," says Yamaguchi in the ad.
"Mitt gets things done. He changed my life," adds Shea.
Romney is know for turning around the Salt Lake City winter games, which were on the verge of insolvency before he took over.
Restore Our Future plans to run the commercial in the battleground states of Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin. The 30-second spot is part of a previously announced $7.2 million ad buy, according to the super-PAC.
Figure skater Yamaguchi took home the gold in 1992 and served as the Goodwill Ambassador during the 2002 winter games. In 2002 Jimmy Shea won the gold for skeleton and Derek Parra took the top spot in the speed skating 1,500 meter event.
Romney traveled to London ahead of the summer games as part of a three-country trip abroad to promote his candidacy and showcase his foreign-policy credentials.
Despite his Olympic-credentials, Romney stumbled in the first day of his visit to London, when he appeared to question the readiness of the city to host the games during a television interview.
His comments sparked numerous negative London newspaper stories and prompted British Prime Minister David Cameron to remark on the the difficultly of hosting the event in a large city.
“It's easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere," said Cameron, referring to Salt Lake City, Utah.
Romney sought to repair his remark in later appearances.
"My experience with regards to the Olympics is it is impossible for absolutely no mistakes to occur. Of course there will be errors from time to time, but those are all overshadowed by the extraordinary demonstrations of courage, character and determination by the athletes," Romney said.
After traveling to Israel over the weekend, Romney heads to Poland Monday for the last leg of his foreign tour, where he will meet with Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Former President Lech Walesa, as well as visit the World War II Westerplatte Memorial and the Solidarity Monument Site.
