IOC Reforms Inspire Stockholm Tilt at 2026 Winter Olympics

(ATR) Swedish NOC president Stefan Lindeberg tells Around the Rings the Olympic committee is considering a bid for the 2026 Games.

"Yes, we are studying a potential bid for 2026," he told ATR on Friday.

After Stockholm withdrew from the race for the 2022 Olympics due to lack of financial guarantees, a tilt at the Winter Games is back on the table. It was discussed at the NOC’s annual meeting this week.

Lindeberg said the IOC’s revamped bid procedure in Agenda 2020 reforms, which aim to reduce costs and allow greater flexibility in bidding for and staging the Games, had helped to inspire another Stockholm Olympic campaign.

"There are a number of steps to be taken before we take off. But the starting point has improved," he said, speaking of Agenda 2020.

"The understanding and interest has increased since the last year."

The Swedish NOC was reworking a Stockholm bid partly because of "the clear statement from the IOC concerning the contribution to the OCOG, the transparency regarding the HCC [Host City Contract] and the focus on sustainability changes the image of the project".

"So much was blurred by the reports on costs and the mix-up between running costs and investments, incremental or not, as well as the fear of unlimited guarantees," he explained.

"Whereas today, towards the new backdrop set by the IOC, people look at the project with new glasses on." Swedish politicians are reported to be more supportive of a 2026 Olympic bid.

He said there was greater understanding that Stockholm has nearly everything in place when it comes to infrastructure and venues. Improvements to facilities for skiing were necessary, he admitted, as Stockholm was the nation’s biggest ski district.

"We can deliver a very concentrated concept with close to 95 percent of the medal events within a 30-min radius of Stockholm," he pledged.

Lindeberg said it needed to be communicated to the local and national population that "we can deliver Olympic Games at low cost" without cutting down on festivities and an inspirational setting. With all the talk about legacy, he said sport and the Games could also have an impact on "shaping attitudes and values and build bridges and cohesion" in Sweden as in other countries.

The Swedish NOC is currently in talks with Olympic stakeholders to rekindle interest in the project followed in the aborted Stockholm bid for the 2022 Olympics. The city staged the 1912 Summer Olympics but has never hosted the winter version.

"We will not start a feasibility study until we have the key stakeholders on board," he said.

"We will use the upcoming months to build knowledge, identifying pros and cons, trying to understand ‘risks and guarantees’," he added.

"Before the end of the year I believe we will know where we are heading."

The IOC deadline for 2026 bids is in 2017, with the host city vote coming two years later.

Reported by Mark Bisson

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