Oslo 2022 Bid Wins Support from Labor Union Chief

(ATR) Oslo 2022 leader Eli Grimsby tells Around the Rings support for the bid from Norway’s largest labor organization "means a lot to us".

Gerd Kristiansen, president of LO, offers backing for the bid campaign in an interview with Verdens Gang, the country’s biggest newspaper. Having previously refused to take a position on the bid, she said the city’s quest to secure Winter Olympic hosting rights had divided opinion in the LO.

"That said, I would personally add that I think sport in the world will benefit from the Olympics in Oslo," Kristiansen said. "I think Oslo and Norway is one of the few places in the world that can manage to bring the Olympics back down to a level that is acceptable [financially]," Kristiansen added, noting the reported $50 billion cost of the Sochi Olympics.

The head of Oslo 2022 welcomed the support of "probably the most influential labor organization in Norway with almost one million members".

"They are an important organisation. Her support means a lot to us," Grimsby told ATR. "We will of course listen to what she is referring to and what is important for her in her support for the bid."

In the newspaper interview, Kristiansen drives home the point that the bid must involve responsible and reasonable costs, backing the use of existing arenas and spending only on building the ones essential to the Olympic project.

IOC president Thomas Bach has clearly made some impact on thinking about the bid since his visit to Norway in May when he met with Kristiansen. Her impression was that Bach "understood" the scepticism of Norwegians towards hosting the Olympics because of costs. She indicated that he had reassured people Norway could stage a good Games on its own financial terms, in the wake of the big-spending Russians on Sochi 2014.

Amid Oslo's ongoing struggle to win public and governmental support for the 2022 campaign, Grimsby said the bid was increasingly receiving more encouraging signals from government about how it will "treat the bid" when it votes in the autumn on whether the country should continue its Olympic ambitions.

"We are seeing now when we are approaching the government… we will see probably more people coming out and hopefully giving us their support," she said.

Almaty and Beijing are the other candidate cities in the race to stage the 2022 Olympics.

Written by Mark Bisson

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