by Virginia » Wed Sep 13, 2017 2:49 am
Winnipeg,
As a former Olympic host, Calgary is a good idea, but I just don't think the facilities can be brought up to speed in five months.
Here are a few examples off the top off my head:
- First, there's housing. Organizing committees either co-opt university dorms or convert purpose-built Olympic villages into some kind of permanent housing after the Games are over. I've no idea what became of Calgary's -- do you know, Winnipeg? And even if they were available, they wouldn't be big enough. Many more athletes compete at the Olympics today than thirty years ago (nearly 1500 in '88 versus 2800 in 2014.)
- If memory serves, in 1988 the two ski jump hills were 70 meter and 90 meter. Today they compete on 90 and 110, I think. Have the ski jumps been updated?
- I'm pretty sure that both the figure skating and hockey events were held in the same arena, the Saddledome (I seem to remember skaters complaining that they never got to practice on the Olympic ice, since the two events alternated day to day). It was the last time these two very popular events would share an arena; I think Albertville built separate ones (and now figure skating shares their rink with short-track speedskating). Does the city of Calgary have two arenas of an appropriate size?
- Then we have all these new winter Olympic sports -- all the snowboarding events, freestyle skiing, ski cross, etc. None of those were part of the '88 games, and all require purpose-built venues. What about those?
And we haven't even talked about how all this would be funded.
It takes seven years to plan an Olympic Games. I really don't think it would be possible to pull it off in five months.
Sochi, as the most recent Olympic host, would have the most up-to-date facilities -- I believe the Russian government spent a billion dollars on them. But the massive problems with doping that have been alleged make it a less-than-attractive option for the ISU (and for non=Russian athletes).
Last edited by
Virginia on Sat Sep 16, 2017 4:36 am, edited 1 time in total.