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A32 sports
Diamars 14 December 2021

Swiss ski resorts show what 2022 Olympics could have been

hosted the event in 1948. chi project with an eventual through, Norwegian law-
What stopped them was the $51 billion price tag was a makers ended Oslo’s bid in
same tough opponent of big reason why they lost the 2014 when it had official can-
many failed Olympic bids in Swiss regional referendum in didate status from the IOC.
western-style democracies: March 2013. It would have used Lilleham-
local voters. mer for some events, includ-
“They have been growing ing skiing.
“It was very hard for us,” too much,” Berthod said, cit-
Martin Berthod, who has or- ing Sochi and Pyeongchang, One year later, the IOC
ganized ski races in St. Moritz which had just been awarded chose Beijing over Almaty,
for 40 years, told The Associ- the 2018 edition before the Kazakhstan, in a tight vote.
ated Press over the weekend. referendum. “Our local peo- The decision allowed China
“We have worked quite hard ple, not all of them but some try to build domestic winter
at the time. We were very en- of them, were against the sports tourism in new resorts
thusiastic to get the Games games financially.” with little or no natural snow.
back.”
(AP) — With the Beijing St. Moritz hosted its annual Many “no” votes in the And next year’s event will
Winter Olympics only women’s Alpine races on Sat- The Olympics ended up go- 52.66% majority came from help the host country create
weeks away, China has urday and Sunday while Da- ing to Beijing with exactly industrial towns like Chur a local winter sports tradition
become a more problem- vos, 75 kilometers (46 miles) the kind of hosting plan — and Landquart at the foot of for the third straight time,
atic host than expected away, staged cross-country ice events in a snow-free, sea- the mountains, skeptical of rather than having Olympic
for an event that original- skiing for men and women. level city far from ski venues their tax money going to al- athletes bask in it.
ly seemed destined to be in the mountains — that St. ready wealthy ski resorts and
staged in Europe. Nine years ago, the small Moritz-Davos was reacting of disruption caused by tens “We don’t know even how it’s
towns with global luxury against. of thousands of Olympic ath- going to be there (in China),”
The past weekend of World brands were set to bid to- letes, officials and media ar- two-time Olympian Federica
Cup ski races in two upscale gether for the 2022 Olym- The Swiss campaign slogan, riving. Brignone said Saturday in St.
Swiss towns showed what pics, promising to revive the “Back to the Snow,” was Moritz, “and here we know.”
might have been: Games in intimacy of the magical 1994 meant to contrast with the Bid officials failed to per-
snow-covered resorts with Lillehammer Games. 2010 Winter Games in rainy suade them that proposed Brignone, who won a bronze
decades of winter sports tra- Vancouver and the tropical athlete villages would create medal in giant slalom at the
dition and without diplomat- They were a strong favorite climate of Black Sea resort accommodation needed for 2108 Olympics, said she was
ic boycotts or talk of human to take the Winter Games Sochi in 2014. local people. sorry the people of St. Moritz
rights records. back to Switzerland for the did not get the Olympics for
first time since St. Moritz As Berthod recalls, the So- After Switzerland’s plan fell 2022.