The president of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah, believes Asia is ready to stage a third consecutive Winter Olympics, should Sapporo decide to commit to an official bid for the 2026 edition.

Sheikh Ahmad said Sapporo had “all the tools, all the facilities and all the experience” to organise the Winter Olympics for a second time, following the city’s hosting of the 1972 Winter Games.

“I am happy to hear that Sapporo is ready to host the Olympic Winter Games. Sapporo is capable and ready,” he said.

The next two Winter Olympics will be held in Asia – at PyeongChang, Korea, next February and Beijing, China, in 2022 – and Sheikh Ahmad said one of the key factors for Sapporo would be how many cities showed a firm interest to host the 2026 Winter Games.

“I am happy and proud because, after Beijing, Asia will be ready to host the Olympic Winter Games again,” he added.

“If there is a lot who bid, we will have to evaluate the situation, but if not then we have a good chance. We are ready to host a third Olympic Winter Games.”

Sheikh Ahmad said Sapporo held “special memories” for the OCA, having played a pioneering role in establishing the Asian Winter Games (AWG) in 1986 and now hosting the event for the third time in eight editions.

That first AWG attracted only seven teams, but that figure has grown to 32 for Sapporo 2017, including guest teams from Australia and New Zealand.

“A lot of the Olympic champions have started in the Asian Winter Games, and we wish our athletes from Sapporo 2017 can win a medal at PyeongChang 2018,” he said.

“We have seen our athletes win medals at the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Lillehammer in 2016 and now we find their names in our Asian Winter Games. This is what we are trying to do – to prepare a good environment to show their talent.”

Sheikh Ahmad also spoke of next year’s Asian Games in Indonesia, and described OCA sports events as a testing ground for the world, with the five new Olympic sports for Tokyo 2020 all joining the Asian Games programme.

Masters students at the Russian International Olympic University (RIOU) in Sochi have quizzed three of the key sports administrators behind the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games.

Jean-Claude Killy, the IOC coordination commission chairman for Sochi 2014; Gilbert Felli, IOC senior advisor and former Olympic Games executive director; and Dmitry Chernyshenko, CEO of Gazprom-Media Holding and former president and CEO of the Sochi 2014 Organising Committee, made a visit to RIOU’s state-of-the-art campus in Sochi city centre to meet students.

The three senior administrators visited Sochi to mark the anniversary of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games Opening Ceremony on February 7. The RIOU is one of the key legacy projects of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games.

During their meetings with RIOU’s current intake of Master of Sport Administration (MSA) students, the trio talked about various organisational aspects of Sochi 2014, including finances and budgeting, sponsorship, recruitment and leadership.

After meeting with the MSA students, Killy, a triple Olympic champion in Alpine skiing and an IOC Honorary Member, said: “RIOU is a direct legacy of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games. I was delighted to talk to the students and share my experiences with them. We are completing our careers as they are just embarking on theirs. This is how continuity in the Olympic Movement works.

“The students were very keen to have as much information as possible so we gave them a lot of advice because they are young and are at the beginning of their careers.”

RIOU offers its MSA students a unique experience: a one-year immersion in Olympic culture and best-practice, in an Olympic Games host city, with access to expert professors from all over the world, as well as high-profile guests from the Olympic Movement.

Chernyshenko, who is also the president of the Kontinental Hockey League, described how Sochi’s status as a centre of Olympic learning was established during the preparations for Sochi 2014.

He said: “The preparations for the Sochi 2014 Winter Games involved thousands of specialists, who accumulated invaluable experience. Now they are working all over Russia, applying and disseminating their knowledge, and thus helping to raise the quality of standards in different areas of the sports industry.”

The core modules on RIOU’s MSA include: Economics of Sports and the Olympics; Governance, Policy and the Olympic Movement; Research Paradigms in Sports Management;  Business of Sports and the Olympic Games; and Sport Marketing and Communications.

Temporary power provider Aggreko has been awarded the contract to deliver electricity to the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang.

The deal is valued at approximately US$40m and Aggreko will also have sponsorship of the Games.

The company will generate electricity for all 15 competition venues in the mountainous resort county of PyeongChang.

Aggreko will also power three competition venues in the coastal city of Gangneung, where figure skating, curling, ice hockey, speed and short-track skating events will take place.

The International Broadcast Centre in PyeongChang will also be powered by Aggreko.

"I am delighted that Aggreko has been appointed the official power provider for the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018,” said Chris Weston, chief executive officer of Aggreko.

“We look forward to helping the organising committee deliver another successful Games."

A major part of the company’s business is providing power and temperature control solutions for sports events, such as the Olympic Games, cricket, football and rugby world cups, Pan American/Parapan American Games, PGA Tour, Tour de France, Ryder Cup,Red Bull Air Race and Formula One.

In August 2016 Aggreko announced that it had won the contract to provide power for the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, having powered the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, where the company has its headquarters.

Aggreko also has a long track record of providing power to entertainment shows, such as I’m a Celebrity, Cirque du Soleil and music festivals including Glastonbury, as well as high profile events like the US Presidential Inauguration.

The International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) has chosen an alternative to Sochi for hosting its 2017 World Championships.

The BMW IBSF Bobsleigh & Skeleton World Championships will now take place in Königssee, home to the oldest permanent bobsleigh, luge and skeleton track in the world, from 13 to 26 February 2017.

Critical factors taken into consideration when selecting the surrogate host were, according to an IBSF statement, “Minimal financial impact on teams regarding travel and organisation; Keep the dates and timing of the original schedule; Experience on the operational and logistic level to host a two-week event at such a short notice; Availability of the track during the two-week time period.”

The federation said it prioritised a European host because most of the teams will be racing in Europe on the BMW IBSF World Cup Series just before participating in the BMW IBSF World Championships.

And as Königssee hosted the IBSF World Cup in February 2016, it will not need to undergo an “international training period” usually required of the host race organiser.

The IBSF said it was “very impressed by the solidarity and commitment shown immediately by the IBSF Race Organisers to support this effort in any possible way.”

The decision to move the event from Sochi was made amid ongoing investigations into the integrity of sport in Russia.

“The IBSF Executive Committee felt that during this difficult time it is prudent not to organise such an event in Russia,” the IBSF said in a previous statement, issued a few days before announcing Königssee as the host.

The IBSF said it was moving the event out of Russia “to allow athletes and coaches from all nations to participate in a competition that focuses on sport rather than accusations and discussions – whether justified or not.”

It said “The Russian Bobsleigh Federation has put a great effort in the preparation of the World Championships, but the current climate would make it nearly impossible to appreciate the efforts of the Organising Committee to host a great event or the quality of the Sanki Sliding Centre as one of the best tracks in the world.”

The IBSF also “asked all members and athletes for fair play and respect, which also includes the assumption of innocence for any athlete, regardless of national affiliation, until proven guilty.”

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board had in July asked all Winter Olympic Sports Federations to find alternative host nations for any upcoming events.

“Because of the detailed references to the manipulation of samples during the Olympic Winter Games Sochi 2014 the IOC asks all International Olympic Winter Sports Federations to freeze their preparations for major events in Russia, such as World Championships, World Cups or other major international competitions under their responsibility, and to actively look for alternative organisers,” the IOC said.

Adam Pengilly, IBSF Vice President International Affairs, was the only IOC member to raise his hand to vote for a blanket ban on the Russian national team competing in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

“I’m an athletes’ representative, so I don’t want innocent athletes to have a consequence that’s nothing to do with them,” he explained to delegates at Host City 2016 in Glasgow during the panel discussion “Has Sport Lost Its Integrity?” on November 21.

“But in a bigger picture of what’s right for the long term of clean sport and the Olympic movement – and to protect that 12 to 14 year old Russian athlete that would in previous system have been forced to take drugs at some point in their career – based on the information I had, I was of the view that there should have been ineligibility for the whole team.”

All other IOC members – close to 100 – voted in favour of passing on to international federations the responsibility of deciding whether to allow Russian athletes in their sports to compete at Rio 2016.

“I can certainly accept the idea to give international federations the opportunity to look at individual athletes, and find out which ones had been part of a robust anti-doping system outside of the Russian one – I thought that was a reasonable approach,” Pengilly said at Host City 2016.

“But when someone abuses the Olympic Games, which as a movement is held so dearly, it in the way that it was abused in Sochi there should be some sort of symbolic consequence. For me, that was that we let those athletes that we deemed to be clean to come in, but not allow the Russian flag to be flown.

“I was in the minority within the IOC. I had a lot of people come up to me afterwards, both fellow members and within the sporting movement, to say well done. Some said: well done, I don’t agree; others said I do agree – and I’m like, OK you could have put your hand up as well! We need to develop our systems so it’s OK to disagree.”

For Sochi, the loss of the IBSF World Championships will be another blow to the legacy of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games – already said to be the most expensive Games in history due to reports of expenditure of US$51bn on infrastructure.

Host City 2016 conference and exhibition takes place in Glasgow on the 21 and 22^nd November 2016, drawing together the owners, organisers, hosts and enablers of sports, business and cultural events.

Sarah Lewis, Secretary General of FIS and the Association of Winter Olympic International Federations, is speaking at the conference, the theme of which is “Creating Safe and Engaging Events”.

In this exclusive interview, she talks about how Host City can help to create safe and engaging event experiences in a competitive world.

Host City: What do you see as the most important issues facing the events industry today and why?

Sarah Lewis: Guaranteeing a safe event is becoming increasingly complex and yet something every organiser must ensure, regardless of the costs and logistics.

The market has become so competitive to gain media attention and fan support with such a wide array of different events on offer for consumers to choose from.

As far as our FIS sport of Alpine and Cross-Country Skiing, Ski Jumping, Nordic Combined, Freestyle Ski and Snowboard are concerned, today it is not enough for the organisers to simply stage a competition to attract visitors and fans, there must be a complete experience and this is also an excellent opportunity for sponsor engagement.

How do you think public perception of Winter Olympic Games changed since Sochi 2014 and what are your expectations of the future for the Games?

Leading into the Sochi 2014 Games many of the headlines concerned the huge expenditure that was made for construction, but the reality is that this investment was related to building logistical infrastructure for developing tourism in the area including the roads, railway and airport as well as three ski areas and many hotels.

Recently the image of Sochi 2014 suffered another blow with revelations and allegations about corruption and doping that have further damaged the perception of these Games. But the extraordinary performances of the athletes captured the public’s imagination and hearts which is the fundamental mission of the Games.

The IOC has taken many steps to address the future of the Games in a proactive manner through measures adopted in Agenda 2020 and specifically for the Winter Edition through an expert working group that has looked into adapting the model to make them more accessible for more candidates. Looking at the number of countries that are presently studying potential bids for 2026, the new model appears to be making steps in achieving this objective. 

What has been the highlight of 2016 for you so far in the event hosting world?

The two major events with the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and European Football Championships have had the biggest global impact and produced many memorable sporting accomplishments.

In the winter sport world, back in February the Winter Youth Olympic Games was on a different scale, but it successfully engaged youngsters and uncovered some future champions.

The ski and snowsport world is just gearing up for the main winter season and we have many highlights ahead, led by our FIS World Championships in Alpine Skiing (St. Moritz - Switzerland), Nordic Events (Lahti - Finland), Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding (Sierra Nevada - Spain).

Before these begin in early February, the FIS World Cups will be in full swing, including Olympic Test Events in PyeongChang, Korea as part of the tours.

 

As a speaker at Host City 2016, what are your expectations of this important event – what do you hope to share and learn?

Host City provides a great platform to communicate and promote our sports and events to a knowledgeable audience, and also gain valuable information from other important events. It is particularly interesting to encounter new and different events, who we are not generally meeting up with in the Olympic Movement.

Why is it important for cities, rights holders and their partners to have the opportunity to connect at Host City 2016?

Host City offers a convergence of the various stakeholders involved in staging events and it is always helpful to learn of the challenges and opportunities from other angles of event organisation and participation.

 

What can the organisers of sports, business, culture and entertainment events learn from one another?

Transfer of knowledge is important in every area of business, but perhaps none more so than the event industry. There is so much experience among those that hosts events, and so many excellent best practices out there, that it can only benefit organisers – and ultimately those that attend the events – to provide the most compelling consumer experience possible.

Sarah Lewis, the Secretary General of FIS and the Association of Winter Olympic International Federations, is speaking at Host City 2016. Register your attendance here.

[Source: IOC] The International Olympic Committee (IOC)’s Coordination Commission for the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 wrapped up its seventh visit well pleased with the progress of venue construction.

The Commission, led by IOC member Gunilla Lindberg, assessed every aspect of Games preparations during three days of venue visits and collaborative discussions with the PyeongChang 2018 Organising Committee.

The Games organisers reported that, on average, the new venues in PyeongChang and nearby Gangneung are 90 per cent complete in advance of 26 test events scheduled between this November and April 2017. PyeongChang will host the mountain events; Gangneung will host the ice sports.

“We saw first hand the progress of the construction projects,” Chair Lindberg said at a closing news conference with PyeongChang 2018 President Hee-beom Lee on Friday. “There is no doubt that the venues will be ready for the upcoming test events.”

President Lee also expressed satisfaction with the visit, calling it “a productive three days”.

He added: “With the Rio Games now behind us, it is time for PyeongChang. Based on thorough preparation, we will strive to provide the best of service to all participants and realise our goal of making the PyeongChang 2018 Games Cultural Olympics, Environmental Olympics, Olympics for Peace and Economic Olympics, and pleasantly surprise the world with our performance.”

President Lee also announced that PyeongChang 2018 will launch ticket sales in conjunction with the one-year-to-go milestone celebration in February 2017.

Representatives from all seven winter International Federations (IFs) joined the discussions in PyeongChang, which focused on 10 areas: test events, sport, venues, legacy, Games services, full stadiums, finance, accessibility, governance, and communications and engagement. The Commission and POCOG held two plenary sessions and a series of side meetings devoted to specific topics, such as athletes and National Olympic Committees; sport and IFs; and spectators.

The IFs were particularly focused on preparations for test events involving their sports. The first test event, scheduled for 23-26 November, will be the FIS Snowboard Big Air World Cup. Snowboard Big Air will make its Olympic debut at PyeongChang 2018.

“PyeongChang 2018 is entering the last stages of preparations,” Chair Lindberg said in her closing remarks. “My colleagues and I leave here more confident than ever that PyeongChang 2018 will deliver great Games.”

Source: IOC