Sweden, Italy vie to host ’26 Winter Olympics
TOKYO: After inding it dificult to sell the 2026 Winter Olympics, the IOC inally has two countries that are all in: Sweden and Italy.
It’s Stockholm, the capital of Sweden and the self-described capital of Scandinavia, up against a joint Italian bid of Milan - a global fashion capital- and the ski resort of Cortina d’ Ampezzo.
“I will refrain from making any comments because I guess both candidate cities are in the room,” International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said Thursday, addressing a convention of 1,400 delegates from the world’s 206 Olympic committees. “They will note every word I’ve said and go home and interpret it one way or the other.”
Bach and the IOC have what they want: bids that will take the Winter Olympics back to a traditional venue after winter games in Russia, South Korea - and in 2022 in Beijing.
China got the games by attrition, winning by four votes over Almaty, Kazakhstan, after a halfdozen European bidders dropped out, discouraged by soaring costs and taxpayer backlash.
For 2026, it seems different with the IOC picking the winner in June in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Although several cities voted in referendums not to bid - including Calgary, Canada, earlier this month - and several dropped out, the two left standing have deep roots in snow and ice.
“These are two good bids, but we think it’s time for Sweden,” Peter Reinebo, the CEO of the Swedish Olympic Committee, told The Associated Press.
Sweden was host to the 1912 Olympics, but has never held the Winter Games. Italy has held two Winter Olympics - 1956 in Cortina d’ampezzo and 2006 in Turin - and the Summer Games in Rome in 1960.
Both bidders say they are almost ready to go with little to build. The IOC says Stockholm would construct three new venues, and Italy will need one. The rest of the venues in both bids will be temporary, existing, or existing venues that will be refurbished.
Both say their operating budgets will be about $1.5 billion, which is the budget for running the games themselves. Both downplay the need for much government spending, although Olympic costs - always difficult to track - often double, or triple.