Seriously, how was Jaca even a thing?

[munichfan]

As there is some talks on a possible Barcelona winter bid these days (which does seem like a stretch, but at least it's more or less somewhat reasonable) it might be time to look back at Spain's winter bids in the past. And one has to wonder: how was Jaca even a thing?

They went for 1998 (only six years after Barcelona), 2002, 2010 and 2014. Meanwhile, Spain also bid for Summer Games in 2012 and 2016.

Jaca itself does not have any venues ready. While there are some decent ski resorts nearby, all nordic, sliding, and ice sports would have needed Sochi-style construction from scratch.

So, do any of the more experienced members on here know, how this efforts came to be? How come the Spanish Olympic Committee wasted money, energy and resources on this, when Barcelona was still so near and another summer games seemed the priority, anyway? And why didn't they centre it around Barcelona back then (or at least Zaragoza)?

[stryker]

On 1/17/2022 at 11:31 PM, munichfan said:

As there is some talks on a possible Barcelona winter bid these days (which does seem like a stretch, but at least it's more or less somewhat reasonable) it might be time to look back at Spain's winter bids in the past. And one has to wonder: how was Jaca even a thing?

They went for 1998 (only six years after Barcelona), 2002, 2010 and 2014. Meanwhile, Spain also bid for Summer Games in 2012 and 2016.

Jaca itself does not have any venues ready. While there are some decent ski resorts nearby, all nordic, sliding, and ice sports would have needed Sochi-style construction from scratch.

So, do any of the more experienced members on here know, how this efforts came to be? How come the Spanish Olympic Committee wasted money, energy and resources on this, when Barcelona was still so near and another summer games seemed the priority, anyway? And why didn't they centre it around Barcelona back then (or at least Zaragoza)?

At the time Barcelona would have been considered too far from the ski resorts. As for Jaca, I think the idea was to turn it into the Lillehammer of the Pyrenees. The 2014 bid actually proposed holding the ceremonies at La Romareda in Zaragoza which at the time violated the Olympic Charter.

[Ikarus360]

Samaranch got overambitious after 1992 and wanted Spain to do another Olympics no matter what. Luckily, Rogge kept him in his place and with him gone his son are far from influential than his dad.

Spain went through a lot back then because of the 2008 crisis so they would had probably resigned and 2014/2010 would had ended into a Denver scenario.

[baron-pierreIV]

12 hours ago, stryker said:

I think the idea was to turn it into the Lillehammer of the Pyrenees. 

Jaca was put forward as an excuse to BUILD and DEVELOP a thriving ski industry there.  If a raw Squaw Valley was able to host in 1960, Samarranch figured it could be repeated for Jaca -- and Zaragosa would be the anchor for the ice/stadium events.  Of course, Russia built Sochi from scratch.  

Edited January 21, 2022 by baron-pierreIV

[iceman530]

with Jaca and Ukraine I think we are gravitating towards a real fightback agianst Agenda 2020.  People are outright saying "awwww, thats cute, but you dont have anyone who wants to do it that way.  So us white elephants are better than no elephants".  and that may be the point.  Both would require work and upgrade, but hey, both could be a good time once they properly develop to that degree.  I wont say no to them if thats what they wanna do.

its not about "scaring other bids away" anymore.  They were going to be scared away no matter.   Just like that, IMO, the white elephants are back at the party whether anyone wants to admit it or not.

[baron-pierreIV]

Huh?  

[munichfan]

2 hours ago, iceman530 said:

with Jaca and Ukraine I think we are gravitating towards a real fightback agianst Agenda 2020.  People are outright saying "awwww, thats cute, but you dont have anyone who wants to do it that way.  So us white elephants are better than no elephants".  and that may be the point.  Both would require work and upgrade, but hey, both could be a good time once they properly develop to that degree.  I wont say no to them if thats what they wanna do.

its not about "scaring other bids away" anymore.  They were going to be scared away no matter.   Just like that, IMO, the white elephants are back at the party whether anyone wants to admit it or not.

Ummm, this is the past bids section. This was way before Agenda 2020 came to be (or even had need to). Jaca bid for 1998, 2002, 2010 and 2014. It was the golden days for the IOC. They had at least half a dozen options to choose from, even for the winter games.

[FYI]

14 hours ago, baron-pierreIV said:

Huh?  

 

14 hours ago, munichfan said:

Ummm, this is the past bids section. This was way before Agenda 2020 came to be (or even had need to). 

I think that they may have been drunk.