Swedish Bid Leaders Address IOC Concerns

(ATR) Stockholm-Åre 2026 bid leaders were upbeat and optimistic while addressing IOC concerns to media on a conference call Friday. They were responding to the 144-page report of theIOC Evaluation Commission released Friday. The report scrutinizes the two 2026 bids, one from Sweden, the other from Milan-Cortina.

Among the challenges cited in the report on Stockholm were the proposed new Olympic Village and speed skating and cross-country/biathlon venues. The IOC is concerned that they still lack financial guarantees. Also, Stockholm is not an official signatory of the Host City contract and thus not an official host city. If Stockholm wins, the contract would be signed by the Swedish NOC and the city of Åre.

Additional concerns raised are the spread of venues, also a potential difficulty shared by Sweden’s rival Milan-Cortina bid, environmental concerns surrounding the development vicinity of venues and lack of media accommodations around the Åre and Falun venues.

Stockholm-Åre 2026 CEO Richard Brisius began by addressing a question from Around the Rings regarding what might be implemented to improve the bid based upon the IOC’s critique.

"It is easy to talk about sustainability and put nice words to it, but I think the IOC Evaluation Commission seemed to understand that we have already taken concrete and real action towards some of pressing issues facing the world that the bid can be part of addressing," Brisius said. "Not be a solution, but certainly an important piece of the puzzle in tackling the issues that we as a planet and community need be addressing", he said.

Brisius also said that the question of Sweden’s federal government backing the bid is no longer an issue, although the late decision, which came after the IOC Evaluation Commission’s inspection visit in March, is often referred to in the report.

"Nothing new to anyone there and I think we now see the total energy that is now behind us with the government," Brisius said. "Things have changed a lot and we are now seeing the government, the city of Stockholm, all of councils around Sweden and the different regions as well really going all in as one big bid team.

He added that the 55 percent public support of the bid has grown since the federal government offered its backing.

Regarding Stockholm not being listed as an official host city on the host city contract, Brisius said "better safe than sorry" without offering specifics.

"This has been the case for quite a long time, so this is nothing new and we are quite confident with that set-up," Brisius said. "We have chosen this set-up with our great partnership with the IOC because given the political situation we had in Stockholm during the fall it was a late coalition forming, so to be "safer than sorry" we moved forward with that option."

He added that the IOC supports the decision fully moving forward.

In terms of the lack of financial guarantees for the village and venues, Brisius also said it is not a significant concern.

"From our perspective this is fully on track and we have a letter of intent of signed and we are fortunate, when it come to the Stockholm Olympic village, that we are living in a city that is the fastest growing city in Europe in terms of people moving in," Brisius said.

"We have the strongest letter of intent even if we don’t already have the land due to the procedures and timeframes for 2026," said Swedish NOC CEO Peter Reinebo. "This land will be distributed late year or early 2020.

Reinebo said the the municipality where the Olympic village will be built is already required to build 1,000 apartments per year to fulfill a government contract. As a result, bid leaders are bullish on the construction of the village. He said the ice venue will be nearby and contribute to the legacy of the Games as will the cross-country skiing site.

According to the evaluation report, the positive aspects of the bid remain the use of existing infrastructure, with all but the three new venues needed to built. It also cites Sweden’s vast expertise and experience in hosting numerous winter World Cup and world championship events as one of the bid’s strong suits.

Brisius noted that he was especially proud that the IOC pointed out "Sweden lives and breathes winter sports and it is part of the country’s DNA."

He concluded by saying that Stockholm-Åre 2026 is prepared to alter the bid as necessary to satisfy the IOC’s suggestions.

The election between the Stockholm-Åre and Milan-Cortina bids will take place on June 24 in Lausanne.

Reported by Brian Pinelli.