Borjomi Hopes for Olympics Opportunity

body {

font-size: small;

font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;

background-color: #fff;

}

#articles {

width: 100%;

}

#articles .hdtitle {

font-size:135%;

color:#eb7c00; /* Orange */

font-weight:bold;

padding-top:5px;

}

/* specs for handling pictures */

#articles dl {

float: left;

width: 260px;

padding: 0 9px 1px; /* Padding around pictures top, right, bottom, left */

display: inline; /* fixes IE/Win double margin bug */

}

/* Box around the article pictures */

#articles dd.img {

margin: 0 0 0 0; /* top, right, bottom, left */

padding: 1px;

border: 1px solid #D9E0E6;

border-bottom-color: #C8CDD2;

border-right-color: #C8CDD2;

background: #fff;

}

/* Text to the right of pictures */

#articles dd.caption {

margin: 2px 1px 1px 7px; /* top, right, bottom, left */

text-align:left;

font-weight:800;

font-size: 85%; /* Critical sizing.< 85% eliminates ability to bold in Firefox */

color: #000;

}

Borjomi Hopes for Olympics Opportunity

This is the latest in the exclusive series of profiles of the 2014 applicant cities, gathered on the scene in each of the seven cities.

To view a copy of the dossier from Borjomi 2014, click here.

(ATR) Out of the seven cities in the race for the 2014 Winter Olympics, the tiny resort of Borjomi, Georgia could gain the most from the Games. But the giant footprint of the Olympics could just as well squash this mountain city as make it a new destination for winter sport, given how much is needed to make the Games happen here.

Nestled is the right way to describe the setting of Borjomi in the Caucasus Mountains, tree covered hillsides on all sides and the Mtkvari River running through the city. Fir trees abound, the obvious inspiration for the Borjomi 2014 logo.

Borjomi is a lush spot, home to a famous mineral water exported worldwide.

Borjomi has been a tourist destination since the 19th century, but has been in decline since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the struggles of independent Georgia over the past 15 years. With just over 4 million residents, Georgia is the smallest of the countries with bids for 2014.

And while Borjomi carries the name of the 2014 bid, that in fact may be the main role of the city, population 16,000. Under the initial proposal for the Georgian bid, Borjomi will serve as a transport hub and accommodation center for the Games and not host any Olympic events.

Bakuriani: The Real Olympic Host

The real action is still 25 km further into the mountains, at the tiny village of Bakuriani, where 11 events will be held, including the opening and closing ceremony and a medals plaza.

That's not all: an Olympic Village, media housing as well as a Main Press Center and International Broadcast Center will be squeezed into the hamlet. All of it is at the end of a sub-par winding road that takes 30 minutes or more to travel, to or from Borjomi.

Despite the isolation, Bakuriani still has a winter sport heritage. A former location for training during the Soviet era, the first ski run in the village opened in 1932, making it Georgia's oldest.

While both Borjomi and Bakuriani are places with charm and natural appeal, the absence of infrastructure -? especially the and one-way in, one way-out access of tiny Bakuriani will present challenges that could overwhelm.

There are few hotel-style accommodations, and even fewer options for Olympic visitors in terms of dining, shopping and entertainment. Yet Bakuriani will have to be prepared to cater to the whims of athletes, officials, spectators and media who will be concentrated into this hamlet for weeks, not to mention during the preparations in the lead-up to a Games.

The new ski lift in Bakuriani. Four more lifts are planned for the resort.

The mountains surrounding Bakuriani are impressive, with peaks up to 2000m. A late April visit by Around the Rings included a ride up a new ski lift opened just this past season. At 1500m, snow still is on the ground, through skiing is over. The town below has a fairy tale look to it. In the distance are the slopes where ski jumping would be held.

A ski jump training site remains from the Soviet era, as well as a few hulking old shells of housing. New units are going up around Bakuriani, most of them small lodges. There are just a handful of properties with more than a dozen rooms.

What's not in the Borjomi/Bakuriani area: all the ice sports.

Tbilisi Hosts Ice Sports, Gateway to Games

Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, population 1.7 million.

Those are located in the capital city of Tblisi, population 1.7 million. It's more than two hours away from Borjomi by the current national road, two-laned for most of the trip, unlit for night time journeys. A new roadway, costing more than $400 million, is planned which would shave time off the journey between the mountains and city, but the reality that the two are 110km apart is immutable.

Making the two clusters of competition a seemless Olympics will be one of the challenges facing the Borjomi bid, given both the distance and far higher level of accommodations and amenities in Tbilisi .

As the political, business and cultural capital of the nation, it seems far more probable to imagine throngs of Olympics crowds in Tbilisi than Borjomi. Indeed, events in curling, figure skating, ice hockey and speedskating will keep things hopping in Tbilisi from start to finish of the Games.

But the idea of sending athletes to Bakuriani for the medals plaza, or opening and closing ceremonies, and then back to Tbilisi , seems backwards.

And then there's the complication of duplicate facilities to those in Borjomi such as the MPC/IBC, adding cost and complexity to a 2014 Games.

Bid leaders admit in hindsight that Tbilisi may have been a better choice as the Olympic city, given its infrastructure and better access over Borjomi.

The Sports Palace, planned to host figure skating, would undergo major renovation.

While venues in Tbilisi exist such as an indoor arena and Central Stadium exist, these aging facilities would need to be rebuilt to 21st century standards. And several more arenas would also be needed, including temporary venues for curling.

The Tbilisi Olympic Village would be located near a university complex, as are two of the ice arenas, both legacy items.

A modest city, Tbilisi still needs to upgrade its hotel capacity to meet the demand an Olympics would bring.

Tbilisi will be the gateway to Georgia for nearly every visitor for an Olympics, meaning a hundred thousand or more visitors pouring through the country's only international airport during the time of the Games. The terminal building now in use dates back the 1970's and has outgrown every day demand.

While flights are limited in numbers, there are daily non-stops to major cities in Europe. Istanbul, an important gateway to Georgia , offers the most connections, just over an hour away. While some visitors may need visas, Europeans and North Americans do not need them for short-term trips.

Marriott has two hotels in Tbilisi, other companies are building new properties.

Bid Team: Olympics Will Push Georgia Forward

In meetings with the dozen plus technical experts involved with preparing the bid, the drive and energy of the team is obvious. Led by former minister for tourism Vazha Shubladze, the bid team experts include both public and private sectors, covering the major operational areas from accommodations to transport.

Shubladze says the Olympics can drive the growth of the country.

"This is our first bid for the Winter Olympics. But we have huge public support for this project, the backing of our prime minister," says Shubladze.

"The Olympic Games will stimulate interest in from the government, from investors. We have a lot of places with potential for economic development," he says.

The Borjomi bid team.

With just three athletes from Georgia competing in Turin, there could be questions about whether Georgia has the depth of technical experience needed to stage an Olympic Games or to field a competitive home team. Even the Borjomi dossier to the IOC admits to a lack of major events, due to the declines faced since the Soviet era ended

"We are also realistic," says George Topadze, one of Georgia's leading businessmen and the president of the Georgia Winter Sports Federation.

"We know we do not have ideal conditions today to host a Winter Olympics. But maybe next time, we are developed further," he says.

Plans are underway to launch bids for FIS events says Topadze, helping to fill one of the voids in the Borjomi resume: experience.

Topadze says more needs to be done on the sports side to also develop athletes. While competitive in alpine skiing and figure skating, Georgia is not a factor in hockey and curling, two high profile events on the winter program.

Georgia's lone alpine skier in Turin was 17 year-old Jason Abramashvili who could be a symbol for the Olympic hopes of Borjomi. He's from Bakuriani where his father Valiko Abramashvili is mayor.

Politics, Other Issues

The village of Bakuriani would see major changes to its infrastructure with an Olympics.

Of concern to Georgians and the bid leaders: the stability of and direction of their new nation, formed less than two decades ago out of the collapse of the Soviet Union . Moscow , now longer a benefactor is now an antagonist, locked in disputes with Georgia over issues of trade and territory.

The Abkhazia region in the west of the country is one of the flash points, with the exact status of Abkhazia up in the air. Russia would like to see the region under its borders, the Abkhazians want their own nation. Just north of Tbilisi the question of autonomy for the South Ossetia, whose people are pushing for unification with North Ossetia, part of Russia.

Borjomi's most famous product, its salty sparkling mineral water, eponymously named, is now banned from sale in Russia, as is Georgia wine, all victims of the tensions between Moscow and Tbilisi. With Russia the number-one trading partner with Georgia, a trade war could stymie economic developments for years ? and complicate planning for an Olympics.