2014 Winter Olympics race goes down to the wire
28/06/2007 |
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Tropical Guatemala will be the unlikely venue when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) picks the host of the 2014 Winter Games from a trio of bidding cities after a campaign in which no clear favourite has emerged.
South Korea's Pyeongchang, Austria's Salzburg and the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi are running to stage the world's premier winter sports festival that could yield millions of euros for organizers and the winning city.
IOC President Jacques Rogge has predicted it would be as tight a race as in 2005 when London squeezed past Paris in the final round to win the 2012 Games.
"I suppose it will be very close. What really makes the difference is the confidence they (IOC members) have in the people," he said earlier this month. "The human factor will make the difference in the bids."
Yet when the 102 IOC members who are eligible to vote take to the ballots during the 119th IOC Session in Guatemala City on July 4, another set of issues could come into play.
Analysts have said the vote will determine what direction the IOC will take on Winter Olympics.
The city of Pyeongchang, in a province bordering North Korea, is seen as an IOC gateway to infiltrate further the vast Asian market following the Beijing Olympics next year.
"We have a positive outlook but we will remain diligent in the last weeks of the campaign," said Gangwon province governor Kim Jin-sun, executive president of the South Korean bid."
Pyeongchang's Games concept was rated as "excellent" by the IOC's evaluation commission, just like Salzburg's.
But unlike the Austrian city, Pyeongchang won bonus points with the IOC for strong public support, a viable Games budget and a well planned transport system.
Salzburg won praise for the state of Olympic venues with seven out of the 11 needed for the Olympic already existing and millions of "expert fans" in a radius of 800 kilometres.
But a lower overall budget and public support than its two rivals and a small security budget are points of concern.
"Salzburg is in a state of maximum readiness, unrivalled by any previous bid city in Olympic history," a senior bid official told Reuters.
"What is of concern to us is where does the Olympic movement go next: does it move into the spheres of business, of major corporate engagement? Austria knows it is no match in that sense," the official said.
Salzburg will also be hoping a doping scandal stemming from last year's Turin Olympics that led to the lifetime ban of six Austrian biathlon and cross-country skiers over anti-doping rule violations and a hefty fine for the Austrian Olympic Committee will not affect voting patterns.
PUTIN SUPPORT
Sochi on the other hand may have a different mountain to climb as it must essentially convince the IOC it can build every one of the 11 proposed venues on time.
Boosted by a multi-billion Federal Target Program (FTP) aimed at upgrading the wider Sochi area, the city got good grades for its "detailed, well documented" funding program.
Russian president Vladimir Putin, a vocal supporter of the bid and owner of a holiday home in the area, will travel to Guatemala City to address the session prior to the vote.
Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun will also attend.
No Russian city has hosted the winter Olympics despite the country's successful tradition in winter sports and Sochi bid leaders hope the time has finally come.
"Surely I will travel to Guatemala only as an optimist. We are rebuilding the whole region. It will leave a tremendous legacy for the Games and the entire region," Sochi bid chief Dmitri Chernyshenko told Reuters.
(Source: Reuters)
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