What would a Harbin games look like?

[iceman530]

Throughout the 2030 and 2034 olympics bid process, this was always a bit of a phantom.  We knew there were "6 interested parties", and we seemed to have deducted five.  The widely whispered 6th was Harbin according to a couple links (not sure how reliable they were), but it got me thinking, would the olympics look to Harbin for 2038 if Sapporo is still sour and Siwtzerland votes go south?  I think its abundantly obvious that they would host all ice events, and they have a lot of festivals relating to ice there.

My question is, where would be the closest rational place for ski and mountain events?  Would they use the Beijing 2022 stuff or rebuild from scratch, and if they did that........what mountains would they likely look at?

[Bear]

Well Heilongjiang, the province where Harbin is located in, has China's largest ski resort, which is apparently 2.5 hours away by train. It's been used for the Asian Winter Games (which would host the snow sports again next year) and the Winter Universiade, so it does have a lot of international hosting experience.

[iceman530]

Good point.  I am a bit surprised that China went Beijing over Harbin in the first place.  They actually have the capacity for "legacy" in Harbin (well, at least much moreso than Beijing IMO).  It has some winter sports culture as well (probably the most winter sports culture in China).  

[Bear]

2 minutes ago, iceman530 said:

Good point.  I am a bit surprised that China went Beijing over Harbin in the first place.  They actually have the capacity for "legacy" in Harbin (well, at least much moreso than Beijing IMO).  It has some winter sports culture as well (probably the most winter sports culture in China).  

If I remember correctly, their reasoning was that Harbin's temperatures were too cold in February while Beijing and Zhangjiakou would provide a more comfortable climate... not the best reason if you ask me, especially considering how warm it was in Zhangjiakou during the Paralympics

[Sir Rols]

More like, because China. The CCP insists Beijing must be seen as the centre of power.

[iceman530]

1 hour ago, Sir Rols said:

More like, because China. The CCP insists Beijing must be seen as the centre of power.

Very good point.  Now that they had their fun in the sun, I am sure they would be willing to spread the games out to other cities.

[iceman530]

1 hour ago, Bear said:

If I remember correctly, their reasoning was that Harbin's temperatures were too cold in February while Beijing and Zhangjiakou would provide a more comfortable climate... not the best reason if you ask me, especially considering how warm it was in Zhangjiakou during the Paralympics

This is true.  I have heard that Harbin gets stupid levels of cold, but as you mentioned, the mountain events for Beijing were also bone chilling.  

[stryker]

I think another issue IIRC was Harbin's lone Olympic bid proposed using Yabuli for the alpine events and the resort is uncomfortably close to the North Korea border. The Beijing 2022 resorts would more than suffice but I have to wonder given Beijing's status as the heart of the CCP, might egos prevail and they put up Beijing again so it joins the likes of London, Paris, and Los Angeles as three time Olympic host and the first two host both versions?

[stryker]

Speaking of Beijing, they just landed the 2027 World Athletics Championships