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Potential 2026 and 2028 bids


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The IOC kinda liked them when the only other option was Beijing. Let's see how much the IOC likes them when there is anything resembling legitimate competition.

Who knows if there will be legitimate competition, though? With the USA and France determined to bid for 2024, Northern Europe publicly revolting against the IOC, Southern Europe struggling economically, Canada, Russia, South Korea and China all having hosted the winter games recently or in the near future, and Japan hosting the summer games in 2020 who is left?

2026 could very well be another 2022. Kazakhstan might even be the only bid.

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Last year Stockholm said they regretted pulling out for 2022 due to the approval of agenda 2020, so who knows maybe they'll be a candidate.

What about Santiago?

The people of Stockholm didn't say that. Sweden's NOC president said that; NOC presidents want to bid, and it's the governments and public that refuse to pay that kill bids. And they still have the problem of no mountains anywhere near Stockholm.

Santiago has the opposite season issue. Also Chile has never won a winter Olympic medal and has relatively little infrastructure in place.

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I would like to have a solid bid from Switzerland for 2026 too see how IOC would respond to that. I would be a good test for Agenda 2020, I think.

Swiss voters have killed all recent bid attempts, and I guess the only reason Lausanne 2020 happens is that there was no referendum (afaik).

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Stockholm would've ran away with the 2022 Games had they stayed in it. How many European cities we see for 2018 is going to depend largely on how 2018 and 2022 turn out. If both are high priced extravaganzas with unused venues then I think Almaty could be the only candidate for 2026. As of right now, I don't believe any of those candidates (Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Poland, Sweden, Norway) are convinced that the IOC has done enough to make hosting a WOGs more affordable. For all the talk about Agenda 2020, there's nothing in it that really guarantees a lower cost Olympics.

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How many European cities we see for 2018 is going to depend largely on how 2018 and 2022 turn out. If both are high priced extravaganzas with unused venues then I think Almaty could be the only candidate for 2026.

The vote for 2026 will happen before 2022, though. Anyway the narrative for both of them is already negative. I can't see South Korean and Chinese games selling the European public on bidding if the Vancouver games did not.

It's really the Paris games that have to give the IOC hope of restoring their image in Europe.

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And they still have the problem of no mountains anywhere near Stockholm.

The distance to Are is the least of Stockholm's concerns in a weak field (regardless of what anybody else says about it). Lack of government & citizenry support aside, drop Stockholm in the 2022 race at the point where the only other competition was Beijing (with their own distance issues to the mountains anyway, & yet they still won over the only other "compact" option), & Almaty, & the Swedes runaway with 2022 in a landslide vote.

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The distance to Are is the least of Stockholm's concerns in a weak field (regardless of what anybody else says about it). Lack of government & citizenry support aside, drop Stockholm in the 2022 race at the point where the only other competition was Beijing (with their own distance issues to the mountains anyway, & yet they still won over the only other "compact" option), & Almaty, & the Swedes runaway with 2022 in a landslide vote.

It was more than just the distance to Are, lack of government and citizen support. The crazy idea of a minor ski slope near Stockholm to be artificially heightened to host Freestyle Skiing and Snowboard events should be taken to account. As would be the use of the Olympic Stadium to host the main grandstand for Cross Country Skiing. Then we come to the simple fact that Sweden's Olympic Winter Sports center is in Ostersund and many proposed venues such as Ski Jumping and Sliding would have been held in the Stockholm region.

Beijing won with the proposed high speed rail, something Stockholm or Sweden would have never proposed.

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It was more than just the distance to Are, lack of government and citizen support. The crazy idea of a minor ski slope near Stockholm to be artificially heightened to host Freestyle Skiing and Snowboard events should be taken to account. As would be the use of the Olympic Stadium to host the main grandstand for Cross Country Skiing. Then we come to the simple fact that Sweden's Olympic Winter Sports center is in Ostersund and many proposed venues such as Ski Jumping and Sliding would have been held in the Stockholm region.

Beijing won with the proposed high speed rail, something Stockholm or Sweden would have never proposed.

Beijing won because it was Beijing and not Almaty. Nothing to do with the train.

Stockholm's bid was pre-Agenda though. If the IOC is serious about it, then bidders like Stockholm won't need to come up with crazy artificial slopes etc.

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^And to add to that, but I'm sure even with some of Sweden's shortfalls, they would still be much, much preferable over the lack of snow, air pollution, environmental impact, human rights issues, authoritarian government, "lack of winter sport hostings & tradition", etc, etc, etc, that China has to deal with, & which some here were so vehement to incessantly point out. And if they were still utterly disappointed in Beijing's choice over Almaty (which had many of the same problems themselves, TBW), then they woulda had seizures if a Swedish bid lost to the Chinese.

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There hasn't been a Winter Olympics in traditional Western Europe since 2006. So that's 4 cycles they'll have been away from that region. They would have loved to go back except that the Swedes didn't want to play ball with the IOC. Given the circumstances at the time, who could blame them. Had the IOC presented the Agenda 2020 reforms before these bids, maybe history plays out a little differently. We'll never know. Might learn more in the next cycle.

That all said, remember the IOC's reaction to Oslo's departure from the race. Had Stockholm stuck it out and been in the fray, no doubt in my mind they'd have been the preferred choice and I'm betting the IOC would have worked with them to make it happen

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IMO for the Winter Olympics to be viable, the IOC is going to have to accept larger distances between the "ice cluster" and the "mountain cluster" and in particular, the two most troublesome venues for a WOGs; the ski jump and the sliding track. While the WOGs are smaller in scale than their summer counterparts, the venues are much more specific and don't get much use post-Games. I'd believe if Torino could do it all over again, they'd use the sliding track in Cortina d'Ampezzo.

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IMO for the Winter Olympics to be viable, the IOC is going to have to accept larger distances between the "ice cluster" and the "mountain cluster" and in particular, the two most troublesome venues for a WOGs; the ski jump and the sliding track. While the WOGs are smaller in scale than their summer counterparts, the venues are much more specific and don't get much use post-Games. I'd believe if Torino could do it all over again, they'd use the sliding track in Cortina d'Ampezzo.

Well now Torino/Turin would have to since they dismantled their sliding track. And the WOGs used to be smaller in scale, but they have been extremely demanding of the host cities/nation in the last 20 years. They're not too far away from the SOGs. But yes the major difference between the SOGs and WOGs is re-purposing the venues. Although the SOGs demands more venues than the WOGs, they're easily re-purposed provided the city has healthy athletic programs. You can't re-purpose a ski jump and sliding venue, you're stuck with those.

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Cortina D'ampeezo? Why not the track in La Plagne. Much, much closer to Turin than going all across northern Italy to Cortina. Sure, it's in France, but the logistics would've been much more simplier. It's what Salzburg 2014 was proposing to use one right across the border in Germany instead of having to travel much farther to the one in Innsbruck.

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Cortina D'ampeezo? Why not the track in La Plagne. Much, much closer to Turin than going all across northern Italy to Cortina. Sure, it's in France, but the logistics would've been much more simplier. It's what Salzburg 2014 was proposing to use one right across the border in Germany instead of having to travel much farther to the one in Innsbruck.

Not according to what I've found. Torino and La Plagne are 478 miles apart. Torino and Cortina d'Ampezzo are 336 miles apart.

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But yes that should have been able to work considering Albertville got away with having their sliding track 384 miles away in La Plagne. Cities should be allowed to have at least one of the venues, sliding track and/or ski jump, a great distant if there is already a venue that exists since you don't get much use out of them after the Olympics. The SOGs gets away with it, with Beijing in 2008 having the sailing event hundreds of miles away, and the equestrian event over a thousand of miles away.

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IMO for the Winter Olympics to be viable, the IOC is going to have to accept larger distances between the "ice cluster" and the "mountain cluster" and in particular, the two most troublesome venues for a WOGs; the ski jump and the sliding track. While the WOGs are smaller in scale than their summer counterparts, the venues are much more specific and don't get much use post-Games. I'd believe if Torino could do it all over again, they'd use the sliding track in Cortina d'Ampezzo.

The whole "have to accept" argument is an illusion of choice. The only cities the IOC even can accept are the ones that bid. And they'll choose the one that best suits them. Much of the talk here was that Stockholm couldn't compete because of the distance issue and while perhaps it was a factor in their pulling out of the race, it clearly wasn't the main reason. Hindsight of course being 20/20, how much of an issue would it have been if their competition was only Beijing and Almaty, not Oslo and Krakow.

It's still too early to know what the effects of Agenda 2020 are, but it seems like the intent is to allow bids with an issue like Sweden to at least come forward and try their hand. It's no guarantee of victory, but it does mean that these bids perhaps can get a little creative in ways they didn't before. But in the end, it still comes down to who presents the best total package. It's not a matter of what the IOC is obligated to select. And that only comes about from which cities bid in the first place.

Not according to what I've found. Torino and La Plagne are 478 miles apart. Torino and Cortina d'Ampezzo are 336 miles apart.

But yes that should have been able to work considering Albertville got away with having their sliding track 384 miles away in La Plagne. Cities should be allowed to have at least one of the venues, sliding track and/or ski jump, a great distant if there is already a venue that exists since you don't get much use out of them after the Olympics. The SOGs gets away with it, with Beijing in 2008 having the sailing event hundreds of miles away, and the equestrian event over a thousand of miles away.

I think you're looking up something wrong for La Plagne. It's only about an hour from Albertville, not 384 miles.

I did it by driving time.. Turin to the track in Cortina is 5:33. To La Plagne, it's only 3:06. And it you're calculating it from Sestriere, it's 6:35 from there to Cortina, but only 2:35 to La Plagne.

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The whole "have to accept" argument is an illusion of choice. The only cities the IOC even can accept are the ones that bid. And they'll choose the one that best suits them. Much of the talk here was that Stockholm couldn't compete because of the distance issue and while perhaps it was a factor in their pulling out of the race, it clearly wasn't the main reason. Hindsight of course being 20/20, how much of an issue would it have been if their competition was only Beijing and Almaty, not Oslo and Krakow.

It's still too early to know what the effects of Agenda 2020 are, but it seems like the intent is to allow bids with an issue like Sweden to at least come forward and try their hand. It's no guarantee of victory, but it does mean that these bids perhaps can get a little creative in ways they didn't before. But in the end, it still comes down to who presents the best total package. It's not a matter of what the IOC is obligated to select. And that only comes about from which cities bid in the first place.

I think you're looking up something wrong for La Plagne. It's only about an hour from Albertville, not 384 miles.

I did it by driving time.. Turin to the track in Cortina is 5:33. To La Plagne, it's only 3:06. And it you're calculating it from Sestriere, it's 6:35 from there to Cortina, but only 2:35 to La Plagne.

Haha you're right. Damn you Bing you have failed me!

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You know if France were ever to host another WOGs, why doesn't it choose Lyon as its city? Sure it's a bit of a distance from La Plagne and Mt. Blanc, but they have the infrastructure in place for some of the indoor events. They're even getting a brand new football stadium in 2016 that'll have a seating capacity of 59k that can host the opening and closing ceremonies. They already have a hockey and basketball arena that can host some events, and new venues can be built to replace the older arenas. The city itself has a population of about 500k, but the metropolitan area has over 2 million people. Although it might be too soon, but I don't think it's too farfetched for them to put in a bid for 2026. The same issue with the 2022 bid could easily repeat given the lack of interest in hosting the WOGs lately.

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The only legacy for a bobsled track would be a water slide :). I guess you could turn the whole area into a water park.

While a water slide sounds like a great idea, consider that the locations of these sliding tracks are in extremely remote areas where the weather will only permit an outdoor water park to be used for only a handful of months, if at all.

I was thinking converting it to a public skateboarding track would sound like a good legacy for a sliding track, but the same issues would arise with a water slide.

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The distance to Are is the least of Stockholm's concerns in a weak field (regardless of what anybody else says about it). Lack of government & citizenry support aside, drop Stockholm in the 2022 race at the point where the only other competition was Beijing (with their own distance issues to the mountains anyway, & yet they still won over the only other "compact" option), & Almaty, & the Swedes runaway with 2022 in a landslide vote.

I was responding to the comment about Almaty having no chance against a legitimate winter host city. We will now have gone four straight winter games where the winner was not a traditional winter games host. Vancouver is not snowy and is far from Whistler. Sochi is sub-tropical. Pyeongchang has little winter sports tradition. Beijing is . . . Beijing.

Meanwhile there probably won't even be a bid from a traditional winter host city at all for 2026. Stockholm would be a decent host (just like Vancouver was) but it doesn't fit the old criteria of a good winter Olympic host due to the distance to the mountains. I didn't mean that Stockholm would certainly lose against Almaty, just that it isn't a traditional choice like Oslo.

IMO for the Winter Olympics to be viable, the IOC is going to have to accept larger distances between the "ice cluster" and the "mountain cluster" and in particular, the two most troublesome venues for a WOGs; the ski jump and the sliding track. While the WOGs are smaller in scale than their summer counterparts, the venues are much more specific and don't get much use post-Games. I'd believe if Torino could do it all over again, they'd use the sliding track in Cortina d'Ampezzo.

After Vancouver, Sochi and Beijing I think it's fair to say they already have.

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  • 2 weeks later...

You know if France were ever to host another WOGs, why doesn't it choose Lyon as its city? Sure it's a bit of a distance from La Plagne and Mt. Blanc, but they have the infrastructure in place for some of the indoor events. They're even getting a brand new football stadium in 2016 that'll have a seating capacity of 59k that can host the opening and closing ceremonies. They already have a hockey and basketball arena that can host some events, and new venues can be built to replace the older arenas. The city itself has a population of about 500k, but the metropolitan area has over 2 million people. Although it might be too soon, but I don't think it's too farfetched for them to put in a bid for 2026. The same issue with the 2022 bid could easily repeat given the lack of interest in hosting the WOGs lately.

Somehow I like the idea of Lyon WOG in the future.

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