Oslo 2022 Olympic Bid Support Slips

[GBModerator]

Oslo daily VG reports that according to opinion polls published Thursday, support for Oslo's bid for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games has slipped. According

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[phandrosis]

ugh. for some reason I feel annoyed that Sochi had to spend so much that it made hosting look like a bad thing now. I bet there are other issues involved in the low support, but I still think that if Sochi had spent much less, these referendums would not have failed and/or public support would be higher.

[Gold Coast Lions]

Looks like Oslo Norway will be pulling out now this bid can not go on, Almaty Kazakhstan will be getting this in the bag now they wont go to Beijing 2022 that will be Sochi 2:0 now Beijing said it will be costing $15 billion to host theses games which is higher then Sochi Russia said they will spend $12 billion which turn out to cost $50 billion the Beijing Winter Games could cost $60 Billion Zhangjakou is an 3rd world undeveloped city which will require $10s of billions to make it an world class Olympics city for snow events and building ski resorts to which will cost Billions to develop as well. If Beijing gets 2022 then say good bye to any European bid for an Generation.

Almaty Kazakhstan would cost around $ 5 to 10 Billion to host and Beijing China $15 to 60 billion to host,

[FYI]

How is a bid that has received the lowest preliminary evaluation of any short-list (barring Sochi. And that should tell you something right there, in regards to spending), only going to cost '$5-$10 Billion'. That's just ludicrous.

They may only need to build a few new venues, but I seriously doubt that what they do have is up to Olympic standards. All of it will have to be brought up-to-date, & that also costs money. Not to mention, the added infrastructure that they'll need to build/overhaul, since they don't have anything near the scale of Oslo or Beijing in that aspect.

You're just fooling yourself there, GCL. And you claim that Tony needs to "learn economics". Sounds like you need to be in the first row of that classroom (not to mention one on punctuation as well).

[baron-pierreIV]

I will NOT vote for a Games budgeting less than $60 BILLION for everything!! And that's final!!

[Athensfan]

Well, the nationwide support was around 30% before and the support in Oslo was highest of anywhere in the country. The fact that it has dropped by 20 POINTS is impossible to ignore.

Stick a fork in it. This bid is done.

[mr.bernham]

Well, the nationwide support was around 30% before and the support in Oslo was highest of anywhere in the country. The fact that it has dropped by 20 POINTS is impossible to ignore.

Stick a fork in it. This bid is done.

[TorchbearerSydney]

You reap what you sow.... the IOC (and even worse FIFA) got drunk on the stupendous spending some countries were prepared to do for the Games (Sochi, Beijing, Nanjing, ... and Russia 2018, Qatar 2022) and now the traditional, sports loving democracies are fleeing. The IOC talked about sustainable, non-gigantic Games, and turned a blind eye as the opposite occurred.

I hope Western Europe, Nth America, Australia etc don't get scared off from hosting. London, Vancouver and Sydney all had very affordable and sustainable Games, for example.

[mr.bernham]

You reap what you sow.... the IOC (and even worse FIFA) got drunk on the stupendous spending some countries were prepared to do for the Games (Sochi, Beijing, Nanjing, ... and Russia 2018, Qatar 2022) and now the traditional, sports loving democracies are fleeing. The IOC talked about sustainable, non-gigantic Games, and turned a blind eye as the opposite occurred.

I hope Western Europe, Nth America, Australia etc don't get scared off from hosting. London, Vancouver and Sydney all had very affordable and sustainable Games, for example.

The problem is that all those games are outnumbered by games, that from many Western perspectives, were overbudget, poorly organized, marred by political conflict, terrorist parts, and glorifying of ruthless regimes. I'm of course referring to Atlanta, Nagano, Athens, Beijing, Sochi, and to a lesser extent Rio. None of this is helping the IOC, but at the same time is it possible the Norwegians just do not want the games? They obviously know that Beijing and Sochi were not normal games and that they are not expected to spend or do what they did. Maybe they are just content with not having the games and truly feel it is an unnecessary event that in all honesty would hurt them more then help.

[FYI]

None of this is helping the IOC, but at the same time is it possible the Norwegians just do not want the games? They obviously know that Beijing and Sochi were not normal games and that they are not expected to spend or do what they did. Maybe they are just content with not having the games and truly feel it is an unnecessary event that in all honesty would hurt them more then help.

This is actually very plausible. And when I read this, I couldn't help but remember when Stockholm was bidding for 2004 & their public support was pretty much the same as Oslo's 2022 attempt, just downright LOW. And that was back in 1997. Long before Athens, Beijing, Sochi & Rio.

I agree that the Norwegians gotta be smart enough to know that the Beijing's & the Sochi's are the anomolies rather than the norm. And that the Norwegians today in 2014, may simply just not want the Games, much like their Swedish counterparts back in 1997. They are just fine & dandy living in their tranquil society, without the "disruption & contamination" of the Olympic Games (I remember reading of the Swedish opposition).

Yet ironically enough, the Stockholm 2004 bid still pummeled through, despite the strong opposition (& surely without the IOC being so worried that they'd pull out), to 2004 vote day in Lausaunne. And if the same happened with Oslo making it to Kuala Lumpur, the IOC would be so compelled to vote for Oslo, since the dynamics here are so different than in 1997. Here, the IOC needs Oslo more than they ever needed Stockholm.

[StefanMUC]

I'm an eternal optimist when it comes to Oslo 2022, but I must admit that the continuous string of bad polls is a huge headache. And it should be a giant headache for a certain fellow German who nowadays resides in Lausanne...

[phandrosis]

I wish we had a norwegian here to tell us their opinion

[Gold Coast Lions]

I wish we had a norwegian here to tell us their opinion

There are allot of them on Inside the Games read the comments on Oslo bid news.

[FYI]

There's a couple of Norwegians here already as well. And they seem rather positive about the bid.

[ofan]

There's a couple of Norwegians here already as well. And they seem rather positive about the bid.

They're members on an Olympic bidding forum. Go figure.

[FYI]

I know that. But not everyone that joins these forums are bcuz they're just in love with the Olympic Games. Some are just downright cynical.

GCL, for example, is trying to point out another Olynpic related forum with bad comments from some Norwegians. Go figure.

[ofan]

I know that. But not everyone that joins these forums are bcuz they're just in love with the Olympic Games. Some are just downright cynical.

GCL, for example, is trying to point out another Olynpic related forum with bad comments from some Norwegians. Go figure.

What forum is that?

Edit: nevermind, I didn't see GCL's post until now because he's on ignore.

[FYI]

Meh - he's too much of a big joke to have on ignore. He's at least good for some great laughs! :-D

There's only one that I have on ignore. And that should say something right there if it's not GCL lmfao.

Although, how did you read his latest post in the B/Z 2022 thread if you have him on 'ignore', hmm.

[mr.bernham]

Meh - he's too much of a big joke to have on ignore. He's at least good for some great laughs! :-D

There's only one that I have on ignore. And that should say something right there if it's not GCL lmfao.

Although, how did you read his latest post in the B/Z 2022 thread if you have him on 'ignore', hmm.

Oh Lord, we're all turning into Baron :/

[ofan]

Meh - he's too much of a big joke to have on ignore. He's at least good for some great laughs! :-D

There's only one that I have on ignore. And that should say something right there if it's not GCL lmfao.

Although, how did you read his latest post in the B/Z 2022 thread if you have him on 'ignore', hmm.

Sometimes I can't resist and I read his posts anyways . They make for a good laugh

[Quaker2001]

I'm torn on this one because I'm caught between the reality of what these polls are suggesting and the fact that polls aren't always an accurate representation of public opinion, particularly with something like this. Maybe it's my bias as an American to assume the populace is ill-informed, but I still get the sense that a lot of opposition in Norway is based on what they saw from Sochi (and Beijing) and they don't want that to deal with that hassle. I'm betting what they're envisioning isn't so bad as what Oslo would actually be able to pull off, but is it worth the risk?

And to FYI's point.. as a New Yorker, I would love to see an Olympics here. But by the same token, I saw what happened when the Super Bowl was in town back in February and what it did to local public transportation (which had a direct effect on my commute to work). So I can understand where some people would be excited about the prospect of an Olympics in their hometown, but might not want to deal with the hassles involved.

[ofan]

^Especially the case in small quaint Norwegian towns. I'm sure the prospect of the circus coming to town in Norway is a lot more frightening to some people than the circus heading to NYC.

[Quaker2001]

^Especially the case in small quaint Norwegian towns. I'm sure the prospect of the circus coming to town in Norway is a lot more frightening to some people than the circus heading to NYC.

No question. And for all that we remember about the `94 Olympics, a 2022 Olympics in Oslo would be worlds apart from what they put together in Lillehammer 20 years ago. It's a risky proposition, and I'm sure a lot of people, particularly the average Joe (or in their case, the average Jan) probably feels there's not much in it for them. Can't say I blame them if they feel that way.

[StefanMUC]

But this is the main problem everywhere in the Western world, I guess. There's little real benefit from hosting nowadays in a rather saturated society, usually with highly developped infrastructure etc.

[ofan]

No question. And for all that we remember about the `94 Olympics, a 2022 Olympics in Oslo would be worlds apart from what they put together in Lillehammer 20 years ago. It's a risky proposition, and I'm sure a lot of people, particularly the average Joe (or in their case, the average Jan) probably feels there's not much in it for them. Can't say I blame them if they feel that way.

Neither can I. I just can't imagine the "culture shock" of the Games of today's modern scale taking place in Norway. Life seems too simple there to withstand such an event. Lillehammer is really the last example of a small scale, tightly knit community olympics, something that fit Norway well. Today's Winter Olympics raise the question of whether or not they're too big for their own good.