Bidding -- US Considers Youth Olympics; 2018 Bids in Singapore; Ukraine Winter Bid

US Could Make YOG Bid

The U.S. Olympic Committee is showing the first signs of interest in a new bid for the Olympics – the Youth Olympic Games.

"We’re very open to considering it," U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun tells Around the Rings during an interview this week at the YOG in Singapore.

"We have a city here looking at it," says Blackmun, referring to Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina.

The talk about a bid is the first step forward for the USOC since the first-round demise of Chicago last October in the race for the 2016 Olympics.

Hill Carrow, a veteran sports event planner and marketer from North Carolina, has spent the past week in Singapore as the USOC nominee to participate in the IOC-led observer program for the Singapore YOG.

"We’re kicking the tires on the first new event for the IOC since the Winter Olympics," says Carrow. He says Raleigh-Durham officials have been discussing the possibility of a YOG bid since the Games were launched by the IOC in 2007.

But he says there’s no imminent move towards a bid, which will depend on what the USOC decides.

"Whether we bid depends on a variety of factors," said Blackmun.

Top on that list would be resolving the outstanding negotiations with the IOC over the USOC share of revenues from worldwide Olympic sponsors and TV rights.

"We will continue to defer until we resolve all our ongoing financial discussions with the IOC," says Blackmun.

"We’re hopeful we can do that in the short term," says Blackmun, indicating that while the target is 2013, "sooner rather than later" is better.

Carrow notes that Raleigh-Durham brings a strong resume of experience for hosting multi-sport events, such as the 1987 U.S. Olympic Festival and the 1999 World Special Olympics. Greensboro, about 40 minutes away, will host the 2011 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

He says with numerous universities and colleges in the region, housing and sports venues needed for a YOG are in abundance.

Blackmun says he believes Lake Placid, New York -- the host of the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics -- is thinking about a Winter YOG bid.

According to the current timetable of the IOC, the choice for the next Summer YOG host, 2018, will be made in 2014.

2018 Bids Keep Low-Key Presence in Singapore

Officially not allowed to be credentialed for the Youth Olympic Games, leaders of the three bids for the 2018 Winter Olympics still were able to travel to Singapore this past week for informal meetings with IOC members and media.

"For the YOG, and especially the first edition, we wanted the full focus to be on the young athletes and we wanted to ensure that any press coverage coming out of Singapore was all on the Games and the youth – and not on bid activities," explains IOC media chief Mark Adams about the reins on the 2018 cities.

Singapore brought the return of ex-Gangwon Province Governor Jin Sun Kim to the international scenefor the first time since he left office at the end of June. Kim, who led the previous two unsuccessful bids from PyeongChang, is supposed to remain part of the Korean international campaign. While Kim was seen meeting with IOC members, ATR is told that Kim's trip to Singapore was not meant as a visit on behalf of the bid.

PyeongChang 2018 chairman Yang Ho Cho tells Around the Rings that responsibility for the bid now falls under the central government, diminishing the role once played by the provincial government. The headquarters office for the bid, once located in Gangwon province, is now situated in Seoul.

Cho was joined in Singapore by new international relations chief Yang Chun Park, a diplomat by profession who has served as chairman of the Korean Olympic Committee International Relations Commission. Singapore also marked the debut of new media chief Muchol Shin, a Korean Airlines executive who has worked closely with Cho, chairman of Korean Airlines.

Munich 2018 was represented by CEO Willy Bogner and chair Katarina Witt. Bogner says he’s very encouraged about the direction the bid is taking after what he calls "some bumps in the road".

He’s referring to the decision last month to hold the line of government spending on the bid budget, which is currently pegged at 33 million euros, about $42 million. Bogner was seeking another $7 million for the bid.

"We are adapting to the situation," Bogner tells Around the Rings, adding he has "great confidence in the way the bid is going".

Bogner says he is also confident that the coming months will bring agreements with private landowners in Garmisch Partenkirchen. Guarantees are needed to ensure the temporary use of the land for the Olympics.

"Harmonization is up to the local authorities," says Bogner. He says negotiations with the dozens of landowners will be conducted quietly by Bavarian and municipal leaders.

New Munich 2018 communications chief Jochen Faerber made his international debut at the Singapore YOG.

The Annecy, France, bid for 2018 was represented by CEO Edgar Grospiron, who tells ATR that he believes a better bid is emerging after a June IOC report that raised questions about the spread of venues in the bid.

"We will now have most of the ski runs end near the center of Chamonix," says Grospiron. Three villages that were to host alpine events have been lopped from the bid plan in favor of concentrating events in the fabled first host city for the Winter Games.

"They all understand that this is something that is necessary to have a bid that can win," says Grospiron, the 1992 gold medalist in the first freestyle events at the Winter Games.

Grospiron confirms that Annecy will host curling, using a temporary venue.

Bubka on Ukraine Olympic Bid

Ukraine NOC President, IOC member and Olympian Sergey Bubka tells ATR that Ukraine is serious about a bid for the Olympics, one day.

Pole vaulter Bubka says when the time is right to bid, Ukraine will go for the Winter Olympics.

"This is the concept to develop winter sport. We have Carpathian Mountains which are not developed for winter sport, for tourism, and we see this as a fantastic opportunity for us to improve our winter events," Bubka tells Around the Rings at the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore.

Bubka says work is underway now to develop winter sports. Since 1994, Ukraine athletes have won five medals at the Winter Games.

"We are not so strong in winter sports. We are now starting to develop winter sports because in Soviet period it was not too much winter sport in Ukrainian Republic. We had some tradition in biathlon, some tradition in figure skating but that was not developed. And of course we are far behind. Now we looking to build facilities and to improve winter sport," he says.

Bubka says two cities, Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk, located on the western tip of Ukraine, would be the likely spots for a bid.

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Written by Ed Hula

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