IOC Talks to Examine Oslo 2022 Bidding Blow

(ATR) IOC officials will analyze Oslo’s bid demise at a meeting with Norwegian Olympic leaders – but talks may have limited impact on Olympic Agenda 2020 reforms.

Inge Andersen, secretary general of the Norwegian Olympic Committee, tells Around the Rings that the Norwegian delegation will head to Lausanne later this month – but only after the IOC’s Executive Board Oct. 22-24 brainstorming meeting at a retreat in Montreux, France.

The 15-member EB is set to finalize recommendations for Olympic Agenda 2020 reforms to present them for approval at the IOC Extraordinary Session in Monaco Dec. 8-9.

The Norwegian delegation will travel to IOC headquarters the following week, meaning that their suggestions to revamp the bidding process will not directly inform the proposals being put on the table at the Session in Monaco.

However, IOC president Thomas Bach and his colleagues could use the December meeting to give voice to some of Norway’s ideas for reforms.

Andersen told ATR that it was "important we sit together".

"Of course we will discuss the experience that we have from the bidding process and I think the IOC can learn quite a lot from that," he said, noting Norway’s complicated political situation in Norway due to its minority coalition government.

"We are also going to host Youth Olympics in 2016. From both sides it’s important to build the bridge between IOC and the Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports after we missed the opportunity to bid for Oslo 2022."

Last month Oslo became the fourth city to drop of the 2022 bid race. Summing up the process, Andersen said: "It can be easier."

"It’s important to make the bidding process more transparent and easier to understand the budget structure and also the actual IOC contributions and then I think the whole manuals have to do it more modern," he said.

Andersen admitted that the reported $51 billion spend on the Sochi 2014 Olympics, a Games built from scratch, had a detrimental impact on perceptions of Games costs in Norway.

"The Sochi Games was an important part of the big discussions we have had in Norway," he said. "Can we trust that we can do it in a way back to the roots?"

"As the NOC that was our goal as we did with Lillehammer [in 1994] to bring it back to nature."

ATR has learned that Oslo’s bid slogan would have been "It’s in our nature", if the government had not axed the Olympic ambition.

Andersen said the Oslo 2022 Games would have built on the "big legacy" from the 1994 Games, arguably the most successful in the history of the Winter Olympics, and provided "an opportunity to create a new one".

"Norwegian sport is very sorry because we are sport- loving people. We are disappointed," he said.

Andersen added: "The IOC has to be really crystal clear when it comes to issues of environmental considerations, social and economic sustainability, human rights. I know the IOC is in a good process here."

Reporting of Oslo’s bid debacle has hit on the list of IOC demands to host cities in its huge manual on staging the Games, including IOC members enjoying a cocktail reception with the King. These reportedly acted as a deterrent to the Conservatives, main party in Norway’s coalition government. The IOC downplayed the controversy, insisting they are merely suggestions and guidance, not demands.

Nonetheless, Andersen called for the IOC to "look into all points in their manual. Most of it has to be suggestions, so that people are not feeling that these are demands… [they] have to clarify that it’s a lot of suggestions."

"Here it has been a big misunderstanding… people and politicians," he said.

Andersen emphasized that the upcoming meeting in Lausanne would not be a critique of the IOC but offer lessons for future bidding campaigns.

"I am quite sure the IOC is in a position now to change things," he said referencing the Olympic Agenda 2020 meeting in December, which is expected to bring wide-ranging reforms to the bidding procedure.

The Norwegian Olympic committee chief said his team and the country would use the 2016 Youth Olympics opportunity over the next one and half years "to build the YOG in a modern way with not a lot of spend of money, invite people to Norway and build on Olympic values".

"Our goal now is to go further in a good cooperation with the YOG and set a new standard," he added.

"We are really positive to help. In the future I am sure Norway will come back because we are the best winter sports country in the world."

Reported by Mark Bisson.

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