(ATR) A rueful IOC laments an Oslo 2022 decision based on "half-truths and factual inaccuracies."
In a statement supplied to Around the Rings, Christophe Dubi, executive director for the Olympics Games, found four "missed opportunities," three Olympic-related and one bid-related.
"It is mostly a missed opportunity for the outstanding Norwegian athletes, who will not be able to reach new Olympic heights in their home country," Dubi said. He added that the citizens of Oslo and Norway, known for their winter sports prowess, have a "missed opportunity" to see the Winter Olympics at home.
On Wednesday, Norway’s governing conservative party declined to offer financial guarantees for Oslo 2022, which ended the bid. Only Beijing and Almaty, Kazakhstan remain in the 2022 race. Voters in Switzerland, Munich, Stockholm and Krakow, Poland all rejected 2022 bids. Lviv, Ukraine’s bid was ended due to the ongoing political instability in the country.
Dubi addressed Norwegian politicians’ fears about the costs that would have to be shouldered by Norwegian tax payers.
"It is a missed opportunity to make the most of the 880 million dollars investment the IOC would have made to the Games that would have built a considerable legacy for the people," he said.
"In addition, national sponsorship rights granted by the IOC would have delivered a considerable sum and almost certainly substantially more than the 181 million dollars estimated in the bid. The most recent editions of the Olympic Winter Games (for instance Vancouver and Sochi), which have all either broken even or made a profit, have made sponsorship revenue four times higher than that."
What was perhaps the most troubling aspect of the decision for Dubi is that Norway was not represented at an IOC meeting for bid cities that explained all aspects of the IOC’s requirements for the Games. Oslo 2022 reportedly requested the meeting.
"For this reason, senior politicians in Norway appear not to have been properly briefed on the process and were left to take their decisions on the basis of half-truths and factual inaccuracies.
"For a country of such means, full of so many successful athletes and so many fanatical winter sports fans, it is a pity that Oslo will miss out on this great opportunity to invest in its future and show the world what it has to offer."
The IOC will select a 2022 host city at its Session in Kuala Lumpur next year.
Written by Ed Hula III
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