Lausanne Heat Wave for Winter Olympic Bids

(ATR) Amid the first heat wave of the summer, winter Olympic bids from Almaty and Beijing are getting ready to present to members of the IOC this week in Lausanne.

Unofficial estimates say 300 to 400 staff members from the two 2022 candidate cities have traveled to Switzerland to support the effort. Beijing is said to have more than 250, dwarfing the contingent from Kazakhstan, spread out over four hotels.

The two bids will present to the IOC membership on June 9 at the Olympic Museum. A relatively new aspect of the bid city process, the briefing is supposed to cover technical aspects of the bid. Lasting 90 minutes, the briefing also will include Q&A from the members.

On June 10, IOC members will have the chance to meet one-on-one with each bid city at the Lausanne Palace Hotel, where each will have a conference room set up.

The technical briefing follows the release last week of the report of the IOC Evaluation Commission which visited the two cities in February and March. The report casts doubts about each bid that are likely to provide challenges across the next seven years regardless of which one is chosen.

Beijing will have to prove that it can stage ski events in the mountains north of the city where snowfall is minimal and the dependence on artificial snow will be necessary.

Almaty has plenty of natural snow but big holes in its finance, accommodations and expertise.

Of the 101 current IOC members, 85 are expected in Lausanne. One member definitely not attending is FIFA President Sepp Blatter. He apparently notified the IOC some time ago that he would not be there, well beforethe bribery and corruption scandal broke open last month that’s also led to his decision to leave the football federation.

Ahead of the 2022 briefing, the IOC Executive Board will meet Sunday afternoon and all day Monday for regular IOC business.

It remains to be seen what the EB will need to do about the controversy involving SportAccord now that principal antagonist Marius Vizer has resigned. Last month Vizer requested a meeting with IOC President Thomas Bach to discuss a 20 point manifesto of grievances. Bach told Vizer he would have to consult with theEB first. Now it would seem the Vizer agenda is a moot point.

The small group of federation leaders who comprise the SportAccord Council are supposed to meet in Lausanne to discuss moving forward and how to select a successor to Vizer.

The IOC EB will also hear from the Program Commission which will make a report about the sports program for the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. New disciplines could be approved by the EB.

Tokyo 2020 chairman Yoshiro Mori leads the delegation from Japan who will be reporting to the EB. Tokyo is going through the process of deciding which new sports it would like to propose for the 2020 program. Mori may also deliver assurances that plans for the new National Stadium are on solid footing despite an angry row that has broken out between the city government and national government over how to pay for the $1.5 billion arena.

Written and reported in Lausanne by Ed Hula.

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