Olympia: Graz and Schladming want to apply for Olympia 2026

Following the failed Tyrolean plans, Styria now wants to bring the Olympic Winter Games and the Paralympics 2026 to Austria. The cities of Graz as host city and Schladming want to apply as an initiative “Austria 2026” for the big event in eight years, the two ÖVP mayors Siegfried Nagl (Graz) and Jürgen Winter (Schladming) announced on Tuesday in Schladming.

Originally Tirol considered an application for 2026, but last October a vote in the whole state turned out negative with 53.25 percent of the votes against. Now Graz and Schladming want to run as central locations, but time is short. The application must be submitted to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in the form of a letter of intent by the end of March, and a finished concept by September. In October 2018, during the IOC session at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, the official candidates will be selected and the IOC session in Milan in September 2019 will be held to award the Winter Games in eight years’ time.

In Schladming, the local council is supposed to meet on 7. Mayor Winter explained that a population survey is not planned. A cost estimate should be available by March, a feasibility study and the finalisation of the sports facility concept should be completed by June.

Graz has already applied for the 2002 Winter Games, but the games were awarded to Salt Lake City. The positive experience of the Special Olympics with more than 2,700 athletes from more than 100 nations has encouraged us to use this tailwind to seize this opportunity of the century. At the end of the day, there are no more athletes than at the Special Olympics,”explained Nagl, who emphasised the local initiative:”The ambition to bring the biggest winter sports event back to Austria after 50 years comes from the mayors of some established venues and from representatives of associations,”said the ÖVP politician.

Recently, considerations for Olympic bidding in Austria and other European countries have mostly failed due to the resistance of the population, who feared above all the high costs so far. However, the IOC has introduced a rethink to curb the gigantism of hosting the Olympic Games. It is estimated that the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi cost up to 50 billion euros, with Beijing and Alamty remaining as candidates for the 2022 Games.

In the future, the games will therefore be re-dimensioned and it will be possible to outsource competitions to existing venues abroad. We do not want to pump billions of euros into systems that are no longer needed after the end of the three-week games,”said Nagl. Winter added:”We say no to gigantomania without sustainable use and want to score internationally with sensible games in a country marked by winter sports tradition. We strive to create games with common sense that have a lasting effect in one of the original winter sports regions, the Alps.”

Graz (Host City, figure skating, short track, curling) and Schladming (ski alpine) want to make use of existing infrastructure, also beyond the borders of Styria. The Nordic competitions would be planned in Ramsau and Bischofshofen, snowboard and freestyle on the Kreischberg, the biathlon competitions in Hochfilzen. In the Tyrolean Biathlon Centre, the local council unanimously voted in favour of the Olympics on Monday, and more than 80 percent also voted in favour in a poll. Bavaria will also be involved with Inzell (ice speed skating) and Königssee (tobogganing, bobsleigh, skeleton). For ice hockey you might need a multi-purpose hall in Graz, but games in Vienna, Linz and Klagenfurt are also planned.

Nagl and Winter are hoping for support from the state, the federal government and the Austrian Olympic Committee (ÖOC). Initial talks have already taken place and the ÖOC sees the project positively:”I am very happy when positive signals for the Olympic movement come in. Given the fact that the IOC wants to return to its roots, I am sure that an alpine region such as Austria has a good chance of being awarded the prize. There must be popular support and, above all, political leaders. If this is there in the run-up to the event, then we are very happy to go into the ring,”said ÖOC President Karl Stoss.

After Vancouver 2010, Sochi 2014, Pyeongchang 2018 and Beijing 2022, there is a good chance that the Olympic Winter Games will return to a traditional winter sports region in Europe in eight years’ time. The Swedish capital Stockholm, the Norwegian region Telemark, the Canadian Calgary, the Swiss region around Sion and Sapporo in Japan have so far expressed interest.