For IOC Member Lindberg, A Stockholm-Åre 2026 Olympics Is A Personal Dream

[GBModerator]

International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board member Gunilla Lindberg has this week strongly backed the 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Games bid from Stockholm-Åre in Sweden. The Swede had remained low-key until the submission of her bid’s application file Friday along with rival Milan-Cortina from Italy.  The prominent and outspoken Lindberg most recently led the IOC Coordination […]

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[Ikarus360]

Deadline for government support already expired, but the IOC keeps extending it on vain hopes they would change their minds, while the only person whose mind is still stuck in the clouds and refuses to see the reality is Lindberg.

You can say all you want about having a winter sport culture, the best resources and yadda yadda (and we all know the IOC has wanted to have the games again in Scandinavia for years). But at the end of the day, if the citizens AND the government keep saying no, this is all just the chronicle of a death foretold.

Maybe if the IOC decides to make honest and deep change instead of all the cosmetic crap they've done lately AND agree to partially pay for their games, the situation could change. But we all know Bach and his friends are way too greedy and corrupt to expect any change from them.

[baron-pierreIV]

Here's the thing about Sweden.  According to WIki and from stats of the Swedish Olympic Comm., winter sports aren't really TOPS in Sweden.  Here are teht tops sports WIki lists: football, floorball, equestrian sports, handball, golf, gymnastics and athletics,  Of those, it's only "Floorball" (a variant of ice hockey) that gets into the Top 7.  So unlike the Norwegians who are crazy about downhill, X-country; and the Dutch who are bonkers about speedskating, the Swedes are only hot for ice hockey. (OK, maybe with the Swedish teams doing well in PyongChang in Curling, maybe that too).  But they don't seem to be really, really passionate about any one or two particular winter sports in great numbers, hence there is only lukewarm support from the general public.  At least the Italian bid is NOT as logistically complicated as Sweden's.  

[Ikarus360]

This, tbh. Sweden winter sport culture, while existent, is not even that good compared to its neighbor Norway or countries like Canada.

On the other hand, the Italian bid does has government support and I don't think even all the hatred toward Salvini and his new xenophobic government will stop them.

[Nacre]

It's not as if winter sports are more popular than football in Germany, Switzerland or the Netherlands, though. Whether winter sports or summer sports are more popular in Canada and Norway is debatable, but if you call it a tie there then there's probably no county in the world where winter sports are more popular than summer sports. 

Sweden is excellent at cross country skiing (2nd overall on the Olympic medal table), curling (2nd overall), and ice hockey (3rd overall for men and tied for 1st for women.) They are also quite good at biathlon (6th overall), figure skating (7th overall), alpine skiing (8th overall), and speed skating (9th overall.) Winter sports are more than popular enough to make Sweden a good Olympic host if only Europeans were not turning against the IOC.

And it's worth noting that even in 1912 Sweden hosted a cost effective games totally different from what happened thereafter between the world wars. They also seemingly have no interest in hosting the UEFA European championship even though they have a large enough economy to afford them. Sweden is not a country that goes in for profligate vanity projects even under ideal circumstances.

Edited January 17, 2019 by Nacre

[Smitty]

Now that Sweden finally looks to be getting a government on Friday hopefully the guarantee will be issued quickly. The country is running  a budget surplus, and the city government now appears to not be against hosting the Games (provided they don't have to pay for them). I imagine the guarantee will be issued in the weeks before the IOC Evaluation Commission visit in March.

[StefanMUC]

8 hours ago, Nacre said:

 

Sweden is excellent at cross country skiing (2nd overall on the Olympic medal table), curling (2nd overall), and ice hockey (3rd overall for men and tied for 1st for women.) They are also quite good at biathlon (6th overall), figure skating (7th overall), alpine skiing (8th overall), and speed skating (9th overall.) 

The last Swedish successes in either type of skating were quite a few decades ago though...

[Quaker2001]

8 hours ago, StefanMUC said:

The last Swedish successes in either type of skating were quite a few decades ago though...

It's interesting looking at Sweden's medal history.. they have the 8th most medals at the Winter Olympics (just behind Finland and well behind Norway), but they have the 9th most at the Summer Olympics.  So despite its location in Scandanavia, it's not really the kind of traditional Winter sports nation than their nearest neighbors are.  Sweden's biggest successes at the Summer Olympics came pre-1960 (they were in the top 10 of the medal table every Olympics from 1912-1956, they haven't finished that high since).  And at the Winter Olympics, they were fairly regularly top 5 up until Calgary, haven't been top 5 since.

That all said.. there definitely could be a narrative of reviving Sweden in that regard where they're trying to revive sports in Sweden.  Could definitely see them playing that up.  And it's not like they lack a lot of passion for certain sports, most notably hockey and cross-country. 

On 1/17/2019 at 9:58 AM, Ikarus360 said:

Deadline for government support already expired, but the IOC keeps extending it on vain hopes they would change their minds, while the only person whose mind is still stuck in the clouds and refuses to see the reality is Lindberg.

You can say all you want about having a winter sport culture, the best resources and yadda yadda (and we all know the IOC has wanted to have the games again in Scandinavia for years). But at the end of the day, if the citizens AND the government keep saying no, this is all just the chronicle of a death foretold.

Maybe if the IOC decides to make honest and deep change instead of all the cosmetic crap they've done lately AND agree to partially pay for their games, the situation could change. But we all know Bach and his friends are way too greedy and corrupt to expect any change from them.

You think all the money they get from TV rights and sponsorships just goes into their pockets?  The IOC contributes a lot of money.   Could it/Should it be more?  Probably.  Aside from the costs, it's the long list of demands the IOC insists on that scares of potential host cities, most notably Oslo for 2022.  If the government in Stockholm is steadfast about not using taxpayer funds for the Olympics, that's understandable.  But do they expect the IOC to pay for the whole thing?  What should they be paying for?  The proposed speed skating oval?  Credit Sweden and Italy for finding solutions (especially where Calgary tried and failed) to use existing infrastructure and keep costs down.  I understand everyone's hesitation about committing taxpayer dollars where costs often spiral out of control.  The IOC needs to be aware of that and do something about it, but there needs to be a balance of where the money to fund an Olympics is coming from and for a host city/country to say they don't want any of the responsibility to fall on their citizens makes it tough for everyone.

[Ikarus360]

After 4 months of political deadlock, the swedish parliament brought back Lofven as Prime Minister. It seems no one wanted to team up with the far right SD party, so the government will remain in the hands of the same people, as well for a coallition of other parties.

Long story short, the people who said No to this bid in the past will still be around. Definitely bad news for Stockholm-Are bid.

https://www.thelocal.se/20190118/stefan-lofven-voted-back-in-as-swedish-prime-minister

https://europeelects.eu/european-union/sweden/

 

[Olympianfan]

19 hours ago, Ikarus360 said:

After 4 months of political deadlock, the swedish parliament brought back Lofven as Prime Minister. It seems no one wanted to team up with the far right SD party, so the government will remain in the hands of the same people, as well for a coallition of other parties.

Long story short, the people who said No to this bid in the past will still be around. Definitely bad news for Stockholm-Are bid.

https://www.thelocal.se/20190118/stefan-lofven-voted-back-in-as-swedish-prime-minister

https://europeelects.eu/european-union/sweden/

 

This bid now pretty much dead in the water now if Italy is likely to have a down turn in the economy then they will be out too the IOC better get Kazakhstan on the phone let's be real only reason why they did not make a bid for the 2026 Games is they thought there would never be 3 Asian Winter Games in a row. The good news from Barcelona the anti Olympic Games Mayor will be very likely to be booted from office in this Mayoral elections this year so Barcelona could be looking good for the 2030 Winter Games.

[Quaker2001]

5 hours ago, Olympianfan said:

This bid now pretty much dead in the water now if Italy is likely to have a down turn in the economy then they will be out too the IOC better get Kazakhstan on the phone let's be real only reason why they did not make a bid for the 2026 Games is they thought there would never be 3 Asian Winter Games in a row. The good news from Barcelona the anti Olympic Games Mayor will be very likely to be booted from office in this Mayoral elections this year so Barcelona could be looking good for the 2030 Winter Games.

Please stop.  And I don't just mean stop posting here.  I mean stop consuming oxygen and leave this planet's valuable natural resources to other people who aren't complete dumbasses.

Your "hey IOC, better call up Kazakhstan" shtick gets more asinine every time you suggest it.  Not going to happen just because you think it should.

As for Stockholm.. how many times have we said here they're done for?  A lot.  And yet somehow, some way, they're still alive.  The possibility still remains that Sweden and Italy will both fall out of the running before the vote in June.  At which point, the IOC calls up the USOC, not Kazakhstan, and asks them to put Salt Lake on the table.  I do give you a little credit for not using this post to make another prediction about the next 7 Winter Olympics though.

[Smitty]

Sweden's new sports minister Amanda Lind had this to say about the Olympics when asked by Radiosporten today:

”Hedrande och spännande att Sverige är med i slutspurten, och väldigt viktigt att SOK fokuserat på hållbarhet."

"Honourable and exciting that Sweden is in the final sprint, SOK [Swedish Olympic Committee] needs to focus on sustainability."

The government has not taken an official position yet. I get they sense that they are leaning in favour, but they are launching in a few days (which is why we've not seen the bid book yet).

[Olympianfan]

On 1/20/2019 at 2:33 AM, Quaker2001 said:

Please stop.  And I don't just mean stop posting here.  I mean stop consuming oxygen and leave this planet's valuable natural resources to other people who aren't complete dumbasses.

Your "hey IOC, better call up Kazakhstan" shtick gets more asinine every time you suggest it.  Not going to happen just because you think it should.

As for Stockholm.. how many times have we said here they're done for?  A lot.  And yet somehow, some way, they're still alive.  The possibility still remains that Sweden and Italy will both fall out of the running before the vote in June.  At which point, the IOC calls up the USOC, not Kazakhstan, and asks them to put Salt Lake on the table.  I do give you a little credit for not using this post to make another prediction about the next 7 Winter Olympics though.

If the USOC says NO to 2026 with LA 2028 issues then what would you do? They only have 2 real options Sochi Russia or Almaty Kazakhstan but do the IOC really want to go back to Sochi after all the issues which lead to this mess 2026 will be post Putin era in Russia from 2024 and Almaty Kazakhstan a major city in the middle of Euroasia with winter sporting experience a country with a great economy with great relations with everyone Almaty won't have to build that much to host the Winter Games.

Sapporo Japan won't have the games until that train line is done in 2030/31 so they are out of the picture no matter what happens with the 2026 winter games.

Instead of attacking me what is your plan B or C

 

[Quaker2001]

1 hour ago, Olympianfan said:

If the USOC says NO to 2026 with LA 2028 issues then what would you do? They only have 2 real options Sochi Russia or Almaty Kazakhstan but do the IOC really want to go back to Sochi after all the issues which lead to this mess 2026 will be post Putin era in Russia from 2024 and Almaty Kazakhstan a major city in the middle of Euroasia with winter sporting experience a country with a great economy with great relations with everyone Almaty won't have to build that much to host the Winter Games.

Sapporo Japan won't have the games until that train line is done in 2030/31 so they are out of the picture no matter what happens with the 2026 winter games.

Instead of attacking me what is your plan B or C

If Sweden's bid and Italy's bid both fall by the wayside, plan B is Salt Lake.  And that's not my plan B, that's clearly the IOC's plan B whether they want to admit it or not.  It is obvious that the USOC is preparing Salt Lake as an insurance policy.  They can't say that publicly, but they know it may come into play.  What that does with 2028 remains to be seen, but you can be sure the USOC will use their leverage to get the IOC to make a deal with them and they're in a good position to do so.

What's plan C after that?  First, the IOC will freak out.  Then once they get their act together, they will assess their options.  To dismiss Sapporo as "out of the picture no matter what happens" is ridiculous.  They had a plan for 2026.  Yes, they pulled it back, but the train line was hardly a dealbreaker.  If the IOC is that desperate, they'd be fools not to consider them.  You keep saying get Kazakhstan on the phone, but to get them in play is so much more complicated than a phone call.  They did not put forth a bid for 2026.  Following an Asian Olympics in 2018 didn't stop them from bidding for 2022 and look how close they came to winning that?  That Almaty has a lot of infrastructure ready to go (and again, to say that and to dismiss Sapporo in the next breath is absurd) means nothing unless they have a package ready to offer.  And who knows how quickly they'll be able to throw one together on a shortened timetable.

[Dezcrafty]

On 1/19/2019 at 1:50 PM, Olympianfan said:

if Italy is likely to have a down turn in the economy then they will be out too

Only if that happens BEFORE June. (BTW, that ain't alot of time.)

 

On 1/22/2019 at 6:54 PM, Olympianfan said:

Sochi Russia

F*ck you

 

On 1/22/2019 at 6:54 PM, Olympianfan said:

If the USOC says NO to 2026 with LA 2028 issues then what would you do? They only have 2 real options Sochi Russia or Almaty Kazakhstan but do the IOC really want to go back to Sochi after all the issues which lead to this mess 2026 will be post Putin era in Russia from 2024 and Almaty Kazakhstan a major city in the middle of Euroasia with winter sporting experience a country with a great economy with great relations with everyone Almaty won't have to build that much to host the Winter Games.

Sapporo Japan won't have the games until that train line is done in 2030/31 so they are out of the picture no matter what happens with the 2026 winter games.

Instead of attacking me what is your plan B or C

 

Ok.. First of all, the chances of the USOC saying no is, well, slim to none. And even if they do, there's still more than two real options. To name some citie(s),  Ushuaia, Lillehammer, Innsbruck and if worst comes to worst, Beijing. And don't count Sapporo out entirely because of one stupid train line. Besides, there's always a slight chance that it'll get done before 2030/31.

Almaty might, MIGHT, be given 2030 in a joint award. And that's if they get really, really, REALLY lucky. 

[Olympianfan]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-31/italy-falls-into-recession-as-output-shrank-more-than-forecast

It's now official Italy is now in a recession.

[Dezcrafty]

Two months of a decline is a “recession”? Puh-Lease

Plus, the article also projects 0.6% GROWTH in 2019. While it’s not ideal for the bid, it’s certainly not a recession and, as such, does not mean that the Milan-Cortina bid is dead.

Please think about your posts BEFORE you post them.

[FYI]

On 1/17/2019 at 5:31 PM, Nacre said:

Sweden is not a country that goes in for profligate vanity projects even under ideal circumstances.

Yep, & that was the case back in ‘97 with their 2004 summer bid. Everyone wanted Stockholm for those Games. Everyone except for the Swedes themselves, that is. And I’d say that the likelihood of them wanting a(n) (Winter) Olympics now is even less likely.