Garmisch Mayor on Olympic Bid, 2011 World Championships

(ATR) Garmisch-Partenkirchen Mayor Thomas Schmid tells Around the Rings the Bavarian resort town is dealing with early opposition to its role in the Munich 2018 Winter Olympic bid.

"Since we started the bid process, there has been some criticism by environmentalists and local citizens that say for a small city like Garmisch-Partenkirchen that the Olympics are too huge," he told ATR.

"They feel that the World Alpine Championships are ok, but the Olympics are just too much. We have to take this seriously and give them answers to their concerns."

According to Schmid, public consultation is ongoing after local residents, citing the Bavarian constitution, forced the city council to have a referendum on whether or not Garmisch-Partenkirchen should continue to be part of the Munich bid for the 2018 Games.

"From my point of view, because it is not just a local matter, we are the snow cluster but Germany is bidding - not just Garmisch-Partenkirchen or Munich, but the whole country, that from my judicial and technical viewpoint a referendum is impossible," he said.

Situated in southern Germany, about an hour south of Munich, the Bavarian resort which hosted the 1936 Olympics, would play host to all Alpine and Nordic events should Munich be chosen over PyeongChang, South Korea and Annecy, France to host the 2018 Games.

"Garmisch-Partenkirchen would be the snow cluster for the Games and the main infrastructure, the slopes and cable car company belong to the city and that is why we are so much involved with the bid," he explained.

The FIS World Cup Alpine Finals concluded in Garmisch-Partenkirchen on March 15, just one day before the Munich 2018 bid submitted their 116-page application to the IOC.

The season’s skiing finale, in which nine events were contested over five days, was essentially a dress rehearsal for next year’s world championships and showcased the city's potential to host events at the 2018 Olympics.

U.S. skiiing sensation Lindsey Vonn won her third consecutive overall title and 23-year-old Swiss racer, Carlo Janka, captured his country’s first men’s title since 1992. Local favorites Maria Riesch and Felix Neureuther, whose father is a member of the Munich 2018 organizing committee, won the slalom events.

"I’m pretty sure some of the young athletes who have succeeded here at World Cup finals will participate at world championships and also be here in 2018," Schmid said.

"We have many local heroes like Maria and Felix and if we have local favorites for the 2018 Olympics, that’s what will be best for us."

Schmid also looked ahead to next season’s 41st FIS World Championships, the marquee event on the season’s alpine racing schedule.

"There are rules of conduct that the bid cities and countries are not allowed to influence IOC members or make too much promotion for their bid, but whenyou have a world championships for nearly three weeks broadcast live around the world, everybody will see what is happening in Garmisch-Partenkirchen," Schmid said.

"It’s the perfect situation and I’m pretty sure the organizers will once again present very good sports, the athletes will be satisfied and it will be a huge success. This is the best promotion for our bid because just over four months later the decision will be made in South Africa [at the IOC Session in Durban]."

The sustainability approach

Schmid also underlined Garmisch-Partenkirchen's various strengths related to current infrastructure in addition to its shared ideals with the city of Munich.

"I think our culture, from food and drink to traditional dances will for sure be very much involved, but for us the main theme which we have in common with Munich is sustainability," he said.

"We want to present sustainability in our sports venues. We have the slopes, lifts and the Kandahar [downhill run and lifts] so we don’t have to build anything new for the Olympics."

A substantial part of the town’s current infrastructure is a result of being awarded the 2011 World Alpine Championships by the international ski federation. Work on the development of lifts and cable cars were already under way prior to the announcement.

"When we won the bid, we started to rebuild the slopes and a new Kandahar for the men’s downhill," Schmid explained.

"For this we got allocated a lot of subsidies from the Bavarian level, the regional level and the federal level. Only one-third of these funds were collected and paid for by the local constituency."

"Sustainability in the economic sense is also important," he said. "For us tourism is the main economic income so we have to promote and market.

"We need the world championships to make us known all around the world and show that we re-invented ourselves and want to do so again for the Olympics. As a tourist destination you can’t live alone on the old Olympics or world championships."

The mayor also spoke of the city's environmental vision for the future whether or not Munich is successful in its quest to land the 2018 Olympics.

"We have to present something new. We are already producing our own energy for the secondary snow devices with solar and water power," Schmid said.

"Also, we want to reduce CO2 [emissions] during these Games and before and after. These will all help the economic landscape."

With reporting from Brian Pinelli from Garmisch-Parenkirchen