(ATR) Norwegian IOC member Gerhard Heiberg tells Around the Rings that Oslo’s 2022 demise has wrecked any chance of the city returning with a tilt at the 2026 Games.
Oslo crashed out of the race after failing to win Norwegian government amid concerns over the costs of the Games and IOC demands placed on Olympic hosts. It left the IOC with a two-horse race for the 2022 Games with Almaty and Beijing scrapping it out for victory.
Asked if Oslo might go for the 2026 Games, the former IOC marketing chief said, "No, I think it’s gone for many, many years for Oslo.
"We had our big internal fights and we will not be back for 2026."
Heiberg spoke to ATR on the sidelines of the IOC Session in Monaco earlier this week.
The IOC ushered in a wave of reforms on Monday in Monte Carlo, including a revamp of its bid procedure aimed at reducing the costs and complexity of bidding and staging the Games.
"If this had happened maybe one year ago, we might still have been in the race," Heiberg said.
"It is a good thing that is happening, but Oslo, I am pretty sure, will not be back for 2026," he reiterated.
Regional bids will be possible under the IOC’s bidding reforms with the opportunity to stage some events in more than one city and even another country in "exceptional circumstances" to deliver sustainable Games with a positive legacy.
But Heiberg insisted that the IOC’s approval of its 40-point reform plan, which will bring an invitation phase into the bidding process, a more critical evaluation phase and IOC contributing more to costs, had come too late to revive interest in staging the Olympics in Norway.
"The internal situation in Norway around the Games is such that no way can people start agreeing," he said. "This has to calm down first, and this will take more years than up to 2026."
However, he sees benefits in the regional bidding proposal.
"This can open up for many other cities in Scandinavia… Sweden, even Finland. For the Summer Games, Copenhagen with a Swedish city. It opens up many possibilities for summer and winter [Olympics] for Scandinavia," Heiberg said.
Ahead of the IOC’s unanimous approval of bidding reforms, Australian John Coates, chair of the bidding working commission, was forced to defend the proposal "to allow the organization of preliminary competitions outside the host city, or in exceptional cases, outside the host country, notably for reasons of sustainability."
Several IOC members said the IOC’s long-term attempts to encourage compact Olympic bids could be undermined by the plan to tailor the Games to one or more cities, or two nations.
Heiberg agrees in principle but believes the IOC should keep an open mind.
"I am also of the opinion that compact games are to be preferred. That’s why we have the Olympics," he said.
"But in exceptional circumstances, why not try for a city like Copenhagen with some of the others? And in the Winter Games, Finland with another city because they cannot have the downhill race. They don’t have the mountains."
Reported by Mark Bisson
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