Krakow 2022 Leans on Existing Venues, Slovakia Resort

Krakow is hoping its three-cluster venue plan and limited spend on new facilities will meet with the IOC’s approval.

A new bid website and logo was launched yesterday as Kraków pushes its vision for a 2022 Winter Games in Poland.

Rynek Główny, the largest medieval town square in Europe, is at the centre of the applicant city logo. The bid said the emblem also depicted its Games plan: a traditional winter setting in the picturesque Tatra Mountains.

The major elements of Kraków’s bid concept will only be made available on Monday on its new website when the applicant file is published.

For the time being, the Krakow 2022 website tells something of the city’s Olympic vision and plans for the Games.

Venues

The Olympic plan calls for three venue clusters – Olympic Park, Wisła, and Zakopane.

Four major projects are currently underway: new Kraków Arena, earmarked for figure skating and short track; a convention and performing arts centre (ICE Kraków); new EXPO centre for media work space at Games-time; and the airport expansion. All are said to be "nearing completion and align perfectly with both the Games and legacy requirements."

The planned UPSE Oval, a venue for speedskating during the Games, would provide a multi-purpose indoor arena legacy venue for the adjacent Physical Education University.

The Wisła cluster will include the Olympic stadium, two arenas for ice hockey, a curling venue, and the Myślenice Sliding Centre for bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton competitions.

The Opening and Closing Ceremonies will be staged at one of Poland’s premier football stadiums, the recently renovated Wisła Stadium. The existing Cracovia Stadium will be upgraded with a permanent roof and additional temporary infrastructure to be the primary ice hockey venue. The 6,000-seat Wisła Arena, also for ice hockey, will be newly-built.

The Zakopane cluster includes a mountain Olympic Village, media center, ski jumping stadium, Nordic center, Kościelisko Biathlon Stadium, the Hawrań Ski Centre for freestyle skiing, and snowboard and Chopok-Jasna, site of Alpine skiing.

Zakopane, a ski resort in the south of Poland in the Tatras National Park, is about 113 km from Kraków. It is on the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup circuit.

All venues are existing and would be subject to upgrades and improvements to prepare them for the Olympics.

An Olympic Village in Zakopane will house athletes competing in the Tatra Zone, but those involved in Alpine skiing events would be accommodated in Jasná in an existing Slovakian military academy campus 13 km and 25 minutes from the Chopok Jasná Ski Centre.

Olympic Village

The Olympic Park would be within walking distance
 of the Olympic Village and five minutes from the main press center. The planned residential development by the city of Kraków will be developed on a 31-hectare site, becoming a mix of private and affordable housing in legacy.

Slovakia Advantage?

Jagna Marczułajtis-Walczak, president of the Polish bid and a three-time Olympian, explains the difference between Zakopane’s 2006 Winter Olympics bid and the 2022 application in a Q&A on the bid website.

"Our main advantage is locating the alpine skiing competitions in Slovakia, where the infrastructure has been already built and will not affect the environment of the Tatra National Park in any way," she said.

Commenting on Kraków’s key arguments to persuade IOC members to vote for the Polish city, she pointed to the fact that the Winter Olympics had never been held in eastern Europe.

"Poland is still a rapidly developing country. We have been barely affected by the crisis that has shaken Europe in recent years. The organization of Euro 2012 also sent a message to the world that we are capable of hosting the greatest events," she added.

Poland was co-host of the UEFA Euro 2012 Championships, with Warsaw, Gdańsk, Wrocław and Poznań staging games. Kraków was host to a reserve competition venue and served as the training base for three teams.

Date

Krakow plans to stage the 2022 Winter Olympics Feb 11 to 27.

Written by Mark Bisson

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