(ATR) Tucked into the Adirondack Mountains, the small, upstate New York town of Lake Placid has an inspired Winter Olympics legacy.
Lake Placid hosted the Olympics in 1932 and 1980, joining St. Moritz and Innsbruck as the only sites to host the Winter Games twice.
With its Olympic history and many original venues, including the Olympic Sports Complex, Whiteface Mountain and the Olympic Center, there has been considerable talk that Lake Placid should host the Games again.
Lake Placid Mayor Craig Randall spoke to Around the Rings about the town’s Olympic legacy and evaluating a potential bid for the XXV Winter Games in 2026.
"I often say about the Olympics – that it’s not an event, it’s part of our bloodstream," Randall told ATR at the Smart Cities & Sport Summit last week in Lausanne.
"Although we’re a wonderful tourist resort, our real business is the training of youth [in winter sports] and preparing them to compete on world stages."
Despite its rich history in winter sports, Lake Placid’s size of less than 2,500 residents, outdated infrastructure and aging venues seem to now be an issue.
In 1980, 1072 athletes from 37 nation competed, while in Sochi 2014 involved 2873 athletes from 88 countries.
Randall advised that a Lake Placid 2026 bid would need to be regional.
"Lake Placid will continue to be an opportunity for another Winter Games, maybe and most likely in partnership with surrounding regions or surrounding cities," Randall said.
"This time, the community would reach out, it would be a much larger region footprint that we would be involved with," he said. "I think there is great potential for surrounding cities, or a city to partner with Lake Placid and great opportunities for both."
"There is certainly a continuing interest – I think we want to remain a small mountainous community, but by the same token we do have the capacity to be part of the Olympics, especially with the IOC Agenda 2020 platform, I think there is still room for Lake Placid to do something."
Speculation surrounding a regional bid has included New York City; the state capital of Albany; Burlington, Vermont or even a joint U.S./Canada effort with Quebec City.
Randall said Lake Placid are considering commissioning a study on the feasibility and costs associated with upgrading existing venues in order to determine "how we will need to use the venues and what needs to change."
State Funding and the "Miracle on Ice"
During the 1980 Games, Randall was working as a banker, monitoring the finances of the Lake Placid organizing committee. The 73-year-old Mayor’s economics background should benefit a bid for 2026.
New York State’s North Country Regional Economic Development Council is hopeful that an Olympic bid in Lake Placid could serve as a springboard to receive $500 million in state economic development funding.
In January, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo pledged $1.5 billion, split into three sums of $500 million, in economic development funding for upstate New York through the Upstate Revitalization Initiative. Seven upstate New York regions are vying for the money in a state competition.
Naturally, the state allocated monies would serve to bolster a potential bid.
The North Country's report is titled "Ignite" leads with an Olympic torch and then the words of 1980 U.S. hockey coach Herb Brooks, "Great moments are born from great opportunities."
This arena was home to the Miracle on Ice.Lake Placid is forever linked with the "Miracle on Ice" as Brook’s led an underdog American hockey team to an improbable victory over the powerful Soviet Union at the Lake Placid Olympic Arena. The next day the U.S. squad defeated Finland to win gold.
It remains one of the greatest moments in Winter Olympic and sport history, and is Lake Placid’s proudest legacy.
"Many of us were wondering before the Games what was going to be that sentinel vision that people would come away with – some of us thought it might be the ski jump towers, but in fact it wasn’t a structure at all, it’s a moment in history that will never be forgotten," Randall said with great enthusiasm.
Bids for the 2026 Games need to be submitted to the IOC by September 2017.
The host city for the XXV Winter Olympics will be selected at the 132nd IOC Session in 2019.
Written by Brian Pinelli
20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribersonly.
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