Olympic Games
Getty Images
Waiting for the formalization of the CIO's invitation to proceed with the candidacy to host the Winter Games of 2026, let's go to the discovery of the projects of the opponents of Milan-Cortina. After analyzing the situation in Stockholm, we analyze Calgary in detail.
Sunday 7 October 2018 9 minutes reading time
THE JUDGMENT OF THE CIO
Calgary "breathes the legacy of the 1988 Games and can make optimal use of existing venues for 2026. Calgary boasts valuable experience and expertise in hosting winter sports competitions and other important events. and its people have a deep love and affinity for winter sports In dialogue and collaboration with the IOC, Calgary has developed a concept and vision of Games that fit the new era of the Olympic Agenda 2020 and meet the objectives of long-term city ".
THE HISTORY OF THE PROJECT
It was in September 2015 that for the first time the mayor of Calgary announced that a study group was working towards a bid for the 2026 Olympics. Nine months later the city council financed a phase of exploration that The first few months of 2018 led to a vote in favor of the continuation of activities, while the governments of Alberta and Central and the National Olympic Committee guaranteed their support. If the project appears armored from an institutional point of view, it fails to break through the inhabitants of Calgary where only a little more than 50% are favorable to the candidacy and where the NoCalgaryOlympics movement that opposes for the costs and lack of clarity has grown over the months perceived in the development of the candidacy by the city. On 13 November 2018 a consultation will be held among citizens to measure the pulse of the city and to guide future decisions.
THE RACE OFFICES
Restructuring existing plants, often built for the 1988 Games, and limiting new constructions is the word of the Calgary project, which is divided into 3 city clusters and the mountain resorts that became famous during the previous editions.
It will still be Nakiska, as 30 years ago when Alberto Tomba doubled the Ori of Giant and Slalom, to host the Alpine Ski competitions to which will be added the tests of Boardercross and Ski Cross while the Canmore Nordic Center will renew the hospitality for the Cross-Country and Biathlon competitions, whose World Cup will return after three years to track the routes. If the two locations of Alberta are less than 90 minutes from Calgary, the will to save 50 million dollars and avoid an early "death" as happened for the 1988 Olympic Park Trampoline where only the most little ones are still used has led to insert in the candidature the distant Whistler Mountain, used in the 2010 Vancouver Games, for the Ski jumping and Nordic Combined competitions. It will take at least 4 hours between flight and journey from Vancouver to the mountain resort to move between the Games venue and British Columbia.
The other races of the Snowboard and Freestyle program will be hosted by WinSport ''s Canada Olympic Park, one of the most important legacies left by the 1988 edition to the city of Calgary. In the same area there is the track for the races of Bob, Skeleton and Slittino which in 2021 will host for the fourth time the World Championships of this last discipline and which is the usual venue for the World Cup.
The Mac Mahon Stadium, built in 1960 and home to the University of Calgary football team, will host the opening and closing ceremonies thirty years ago after a makeup that would bring it from the current capacity of 29,000 spectators to 40,000 in the Foothills cluster, the beating heart of the Games sports activity. In the same area stands the 'Oval for Speed ​​Skating, recognized among the fastest tracks in the World Cup scene and the project involves the construction of two new plants. The Multi-Sport Complex, already included in the city's development plans, includes, among others, an ice palace for 10,000 spectators that will host Figure Skating and Short Track while the Community Arena with a capacity of 6,000 will be the second venue of the Hockey tournament that will live its topical moments at the Saddledome Arena.
Built in the eighties for the concomitance of the arrival in the city of the NHL franchise of the Calgary Flames and of the choice as the host city of the 1988 Games, this plant offers 19,000 seats and will be the only venue of the Stampede Park cluster, home of the Medals Plaza, the main Olympic Village and the media centers.
PRO AND AGAINST SECOND GAMESBIDS
Robert Livingstone, the founder of Gamesbids.com (reference website for the analysis of Olympic candidacies), underlines the points in favor of Calgary in the race for the final choice: "It is a well structured and mature project on which we have been working for almost three years, much more than for other applications in the field.There is a lot of trust, the plants already exist and only need to be restructured and the opportunity to restore vigor, without building elephants' cemeteries, is strong. '' Olympic legacy generated in 1988 ".
The cons are mainly due to the opposition represented by the No Calgary movement, which is mobilizing all its forces in view of the November 13 referendum, a consultation of the citizens of the Alberta city, the outcome of which will not be binding but certainly, above all in case of clear victory of one field or the other, will direct the final decision and the number of Olympics assigned to Canada in the last 30 years. In the Winter field after Calgary 1988 and Vancouver 2010 there would be Calgary 2026 and, considering also the summer edition of Montreal 1976 would be four Olympics in 50 years, perhaps too many for the IOC's geo-political criteria.
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Social media engagement
Più letti in Sport invernali
Anna Maria Ghiddi e Maria Eugenia Boccardi portano all'Italia la prima medaglia: è argento nella Team Sprint femminile
A Madona la seconda giornata dei campionati del mondo di skiroll: dopo la piazza d'onore del binomio tricolore, alle spalle solo delle norvegesi Aarekol-Kjosavik, è 4° posto per Lorenzetti e Dellagiacoma mentre festeggiano i padroni di casa lettoni. Titoli juniores per Aarnes-Lia e Malm-Jutterdal.
22