Organizers of the Salzburg 2014 Winter Olympics bid will be
trying to avoid the word "favorites" this week when International
Olympic Committee (IOC) delegates carry out their technical
inspection of the Austrian city.
The Salzburg bid has been widely viewed as the frontrunner
almost since the day it was launched, but that label has seldom
carried much significance in previous decisions by the IOC in its
awarding of Games.
Among the most recent surprises was the awarding of the 2012
Summer Games to London when Paris had been seen as the favorite
with a seemingly unassailable lead just hours before the vote.
The 2006 Winter Games vote that picked Turin was another shock
with the Swiss town of Sion looking the likely winner going into
the vote.
The Salzburg bidders, who face competition from Russia's Sochi
and South Korea's Pyeongchang, are confident they can impress the
13-member evaluation commission, headed by Japanese IOC member
Chiharu Igaya, when it begins its four-day tour of the proposed
Olympic venues today.
The technical elements of the Salzburg bid are seen as
particularly strong, especially since eight of the 11 competition
venues already exist, many of them with a history of staging major
winter sports events.
But the bid's leaders say they are well aware that technical
excellence is only one element - albeit an important one - of what
it takes to secure the Games.
"I would really distinguish between being technical favorites
and being actual favorites in the overall mix of things that lead
the IOC members to cast their votes," Salzburg executive director
Gernot Leitner said.
"I think each of the three bids has its own individual story and
individual 'something' that could make them the overall favorite.
Certainly nobody on our team is thinking that the job is already
done.
"We have around 40 people working on the bid right now, often
until two o'clock every morning, so I would not say we are putting
much emphasis on whether or not we are seen as favorites."
Salzburg is the final stop-off for the evaluation commission
which has already completed inspections of Sochi, and Pyeongchang,
east of Seoul.
Following its visit to Pyeongchang, the commission heaped praise
on the bid's compact layout and its strong public support but said
the South Korean bid could fall down on the lack of home nation
success in many Olympic winter sports.
That will not be a problem for Russia, which has picked up 33
gold medals in the last four Winter Games.
The commission warned though that Sochi was facing much greater
challenges, including a lack of existing venues, little experience
in staging major sporting events and concerns over the
environmental aspects of the bid.
Salzburg is emphasising the compact nature of its bid with
organizers promising "the most compact Winter Games plan in the
last three decades", with journeys of just 55 minutes between the
furthest venues.
The evaluation commission is set to present its final report on
June 4, with IOC members then determining the winner in a vote in
Guatemala City a month later.
(China Daily via Agencies March 15, 2007)