| 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 |
|
|
|
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Upbeat Austrians make a pitch for '10
By Jerry D. Spangler and Donna Kemp Spangler
Deseret News staff writer
Karl Gollegger is pure politician. He has the meaty handshake of an insurance salesman, a million-dollar smile and a penchant for deftly avoiding tough questions.
Questions like how the city of Salzburg, Austria, a metropolitan area roughly a fifth the size of the Wasatch Front, intends to woo and win the 2010 Winter Games in its first bid attempt.
And don't even ask about how the city will pay the tab, which topped $1.3 billion in Salt Lake.
"It will not cost us what it cost Salt Lake," said Gollegger, the vice mayor of Salzburg and the front man for a bid that is late in getting started and a decided underdog.
"We won't be building anything new. We have everything already in place," he said. But some may question whether he's fudging a bit on the city's actual preparedness.
Gollegger is in Salt Lake City as part of a Salzburg delegation that is wining and dining whoever will listen, from International Olympic Committee members to Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt and Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson.
He said his Utah hosts have taught him much. He wants to borrow heavily from Salt Lake's transportation plan focused on shuttles, the security system and the volunteer network, which he said is the best he's ever seen.
And there's the hospitality he wants to match.
"The kindness here is everywhere," he said.
The Austrians are using Salt Lake Games to pitch Austrian culture. Two different groups have rented restaurants on Second South in downtown Salt Lake City, replacing the Dijon and Absolute eateries with Austria House, where invited guests are treated to Austrian polkas and waltzes, and impromptu appearances by Olympic medalists who prompt thunderous cheers, dancing and effusion of national pride.
To sweeten the pot, the Austrians imported authentic food and drink from the motherland where Austrian chefs treat guests to exotic fare like "stuffed breast of guinea fowl on lobster sauce" and "fish strudel on leek fondue and shrimp sauce."
Beefy security guards keep all but the invited at bay.
Gollegger said the cuisine and beverages are part of Austrian culture — and culture is what Salzburg is selling to Olympic officials. What the city lacks in size, he said, it makes up for with centuries of rich culture and tradition.
Although famous for its winter sports facilities — the famed Kitzbuhel downhill course would be a venue — the city must still convince the world it is capable of hosting a winter spectacle the magnitude of the Olympic Games.
Austrian journalist Egon Theiner said athletes in Europe, as well as sports governing bodies, have long recognized Salzburg as a winter sports capital. The biggest deterrent to winning the bid, he said, is that the 2006 Games will be held in northern Italy only a short distance from Salzburg.
And the IOC might not look favorably on two cities so close to one another hosting back-to-back Olympics.
On the positive side, he said, Austria has not hosted the Winter Games since 1976 at Innsbruck, and those Games were among the most memorable in Olympic history.
Could the city pull off an Olympic Games? "No problem," Theiner said.
"Austria is one of the most important winter sports nations in the world, both politically and for the athletes. And it is time the Games return there."
Gollegger said Salzburg isn't even thinking about the prospect of losing the 2010 bid. There is no point planning for 2014 when you are going to win the 2010 bid, he said.
E-mail: spang@desnews.com; donna@desnews.com
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February 16, 2002
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