| Salt Lake City |
 |
 |
| GER |
12 |
16 |
7 |
35 |
 |
| USA |
10 |
13 |
11 |
34 |
|
| NOR |
11 |
7 |
6 |
24 |
|
| CAN |
6 |
3 |
8 |
17 |
|
| RUS |
6 |
6 |
4 |
16 |
|
| AUT |
2 |
4 |
10 |
16 |
|
| ITA |
4 |
4 |
4 |
12 |
|
| FRA |
4 |
5 |
2 |
11 |
|
| SUI |
3 |
2 |
6 |
11 |
|
| NED |
3 |
5 |
0 |
8 |
|
|
|
|
Salt Lake facing stiff competition for 2002 Games
Deseret News Archives - August 21, 1994
The International Olympic Committee decided earlier this year to change the way it will choose the site of the 2002 Winter Games after a record number of cities tossed their hats in the ring.
Instead of forcing cities to wage costly campaigns through June 1995, when the final choice is made, all but four will be eliminated from the competition in January. Because the four will be named based on the technical merit of their bids, most observers believe Salt Lake City will be on the list - most likely joined by Quebec, Canada; Ostersund, Sweden; and Sion, Switzerland.
Quebec, Canada - Bid officials in the French-speaking capital of this Canadian province downplay the increasing controversy surrounding their effort to win the 2002 Winter Games.
So far, there's been a proposed referendum to stop the bid, problems finding a suitable site for the men's downhill ski competition, and Quebec's latest effort to secede from Canada.
A recent poll reportedly shows that more than 71 percent of the population favors hosting the Winter Games, according to an article appearing on the Canada News-wire.
Grenier said one of the toughest jobs was selecting proposed Olympic sites from among the area's 50 or so speed-skating and ice arenas. All but four of the 14 Olympic venues needed are already built, according to bid documents.
The Canadian government has pledged to contribute one-third of the $740 million (Canadian dollars) budget, with the provincial government guaranteeing the rest and establishing a regional lottery expected to raise millions.
Quebec is selling itself as a historic site where Europe and America came together nearly four centuries ago with a long tradition of winter sports. Grenier said the region's athletes are the real strength of the bid.
He is, however, reluctant to suggest which cities will be in the final four.
Ostersund, Sweden - Bid officials from Ostersund, which has bid for the Winter Games twice before, are much more open. The small lakeside community has a reputation as among the friendliest in the Olympic community.
"We feel we are still a little bit behind Salt Lake City, but coming up bit by bit," said Christer Persson, chairman of the Ostersund Olympic Bidding Committee, agreeing the four finalists will likely be Ostersund, Salt Lake City, Quebec and Sion.
Although Salt Lake City quickly rebounded after losing the 1998 Winter Games to Nagano, Japan, back in 1991, Persson said Ostersund residents weren't ready to commit to a third try until last December.
There are some opponents. "The majority of them don't believe we may get them," Perrson said, describing himself as the bid's last optimist.
Ostersund's strategy is "to present our bid as positive as possible. We are not going to try to be better than Salt Lake City on their field of battle - Olympic Games with a bigger airport, more luxurious hotels and high-class everything. We cannot beat them on that."
Instead, Ostersund will sell itself as another Lillehammer, the Norwegian city that charmed the world during the 1994 Winter Games. An Olympics in Ostersund will be "more cozy, more intimate, more faithful to sport than to luxury."
Sion, Switzerland - Sion is hoping another city in the American West doesn't spoil its Olympic dream.
In bidding for the 1976 Winter Games, Denver bested Sion for the bid. In the end, Denver voters rejected to Games and Innsbruck, Austria, stepped in as an emergency host.
Located in the southwest corner of Switzerland and home of the Matterhorn, Sion's bid would involve the entire Valais region, bordered by France and Italy.
The bid includes sites at nine cities spread from Martigny on the west to Fiesch on the east, a distance of about 50 miles. It is directly over the Alps from Aosta, Italy, which bid against Salt Lake City in 1998.
Organizers are promoting a balanced budget and a referendum where 62 percent of Valais voters approved a $23 million (U.S. dollars) debt guarantee for the Olympics. Walter Loser, president media commission of Valais-Sion bid committee, said that the strengths of the bid are the number of existing facilities and the political stability of Switzerland.
The bid would require renovating existing ski jump facilities and building an ice rink for figure skating. The bid also anticipates a temporary speed-skating oval. The possible drawback of the bid is the distance to the existing bobsled-luge run in St. Moritz, the site of the 1948 Games. The venue is a four-hour drive from Sion.
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