LAUSANNE: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) after much deliberation, has trimmed the candidates of cities which had earlier expressed their desire to host the Winter Olympic Games in 2026, down to three. Calgary in Canada, Italy’s Milan and Swedish capital city, Stockholm have emerged as the favourites to win the hosting rights, which will be confirmed by the apex governing body of the Games during its session in Argentina’s Buenos Aires from 8-9 October.
The IOC’s Executive Committee presented its findings for the three cities in its Working Group Report. Calgary was selected due to its affinity for winter sports and hosting such events in the past such as the 1988 Olympics.
When it comes to Milan, it has a long-standing reputation of being the most popular mountain resort region in the Italian Alps. Its candidature is helped by the region’s strong winter sports history, tradition and experience, as well as the people’s love and passion for sport in the country. Its economic strength and prosperity has gone in its favour to reach this stage of voting.
Stockholm will be a popular tourist destination for people around the world due to its historic city centre and the possibility of the 2026 Games venues being in the heart of the city that would elevate and energise the overall viewing and participating experience. Besides, Sweden has the hosting experience, love for winter sports and established World Cup venues necessary for delivering the Games according to the IOC.
The cities have presented its applications to the Executive Board of the IOC in lieu of its new “Agenda 2020” and “new norm” policies that have already resulted in savings of $4.3 billion in regards to the costs of delivering the Olympic Games 2020 in Tokyo.
The policies focus on making the Games more event-based than sporting based that equally provides a significant financial contribution to the IOC while ensuring that the project fits the cities’ sporting, economic, social and environmental long-term planning needs. In return, the IOC will work with cities to host the events by cutting costs in all aspects such as transport, technology, venues, hospitality, broadcasting and so on.
On average, the winning bidder plans to use 80 per cent existing or temporary venues, compared to 60 per cent among the candidate cities for the Olympic Winter Games 2018 and 2022. In addition, the initial Games operating costs projected by them are on average 15 per cent (approximately USD 300 million) lower than those of the cities in the two previous candidature processes.
