The Olympic Trivia of the month: "How many times has Oslo submitted their candidacy for the WOG?"

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Email us your answer using the web form, and you are entered into the drawing of a token prize. The prize for June&July 2007 is an Olympic collectors lapel pin from the German Olympic Committee.

The Olympic Memory of the Month: The torch is being lit at the Torino opening Ceremonies. Not all went according to plan in Torino, but the Opening Ceremonies were fine. In fact they were so ok that one would have to say they were the highlight of the 2006 Games.

Photo credit: Christopher Healey

April/May 2007 correct answer: Ice hockey was once a Summer Games event.

February/March 2007 corrrect answer: London has been awarded the games more times than any other, four times, one of which was cancelled due to WWII.

January 2007 correct answer: Chicago 1904 and Denver 1976 have been awarded the Games but never actually hosted.

December 2006 correct answer: More athletes than spectators attended the 1900 Paris SOG.

Meet the candidates.... and vote!

Bid City - Undecided/Potential Bid City - Withdrawn

July 2007 UPDATE: Sochi is hosting the 2014 Winter Games!

Being awarded the 2014 Winter Games, Sochi sets a strong presedence towards the 2011 IOC vote. It is commonly believed that even though no such rule exists, the IOC always chooses a host city from a different continent than the previous host. Should this still be the case, and we have no reason to believe otherwise, the election of Sochi more or less kills the candidacies of such cities as Boromji and most likely Sofia.

The next few months will most likely see a withdrawl of some cities, and the emerging of others.

We remind you that several cities, for instance 2014 candidates Sofia and Boromji have postponed the announcement of their candidacies to the end of 2007, though the election of Sochi certainly gives these two a major hurdle to overcome.

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Pyeong Chang, South Korea

This Korean winter sports city was in the running for 2014 host city and will quite possibly bid again. Pyeong Chang (PC) has recently been awarded three World Championships and Korea would become only the second country outside of Europe and North America to host the Winter Games. They were on the 2014 Hot List, and there is a general concensus that PC is a major favorite for 2018 since it did not win 2014.

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Tromso, Norway

(APRIL 2007 UPDATE:) Tromso has been elected Norway's candidate. A 6-6 tied vote in the Sports Council was broken by the double vote of the assistant Chairman voting in place of the Chairman who had been excused due to illness. It later tuned out the at the Chairman had not in fact been ill, instead he was asked to withdraw silently after having been caught forging a document in order to try and avoid paying out USD150K he had promised to a Norwegian youth sports organization. The question now is whether Tromso will get the support of its government after having been elected in such a disorderly fashion and with massive opposition in the Parliament.   Located in the northernmost Norway, in the 'Paris of the North' and city of contrasts between light and darkness, Tromso is a Candidate to host the 2018 Winter Games. Tromso will bring the intimacy and pure joy of winter sports back to the Olympic Movement, as it once took place in Lillehammer 1994. Romsa is Sami for Tromso, and their logo is based on the stone age rock carvings found in the area. Several former Olympians, such as Gold medal winner Vegard Ulvang (X-country) and former Norwegian Olympic Team Chef de Mission Borge Stensbol are joining Team Tromso! During January and February 2007, the Norwegian bid process was in focus due to some politicians publicly supporting one bid city over another, even though all the bids were not yet submitted. This has enraged many sports fans, since they see this as a Sports Federation and Olympic Committe task, and not a governmental task. See their website here.

 

Oestersund/Aare, Sweden  Sweden has sought both the Wintergames and Summergames many times over the last 30 years and one might wonder why the IOC still hasn't awarded them for their effort. One of the major drawbacks, as it is with many smaller candidate cities is the infrastructure and transportation. The Oestersund area is quaint and similar to Lillehammer and could potentially be a good host, but the Swedish economy is, for the time being, on its knees. One question is whether the city would recieve funding grants from the government to ensure a bid, one more time. (JANUARY 2007 UPDATE:) However, fuled by massive publicity around the Alpine Ski World Championships in February 2007, a planning committee has been established in Aare. The committee is going to start working on presenting a bid to the Swedish Olympic Committee later this year, 2007! Aare 2018 has no website yet, but this is their 2007 Alpine WC site.     Annecy, France   The French Olympic committee will need to choose between three potential candidate cities. Annecy, which had originally intended to bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics, has been joined in the running by Grenoble and Gap. However, the French committee is quite reluctant, preferring to focus on the 2024 Summer Olympics, which makes a French WOG bid dubious at best. Annecy does have the advantage of having been through the bid process for 2014, in which it is no longer running. If it turns out that it had some support, it may very well be a strong candidate for 2018, provided France decides to bid, and if Annecy wins the French contest first... As of today, Annecy is certainly the French favourite. See their website here.     Gap, France Gap, located in the Hautes-Alpes, is not only the highest prefecture in France, but also the largest city in the Southern Alps. Its strategic geographical location gives it the advantage of being at the heart of three great European regions: Rhone-Alps, Northern Italy and the mediterranean coast. Gap now has a basic initial website up, however only in French for the time being. Their main e-mail address is ojo2018@yahoo.fr and one might ask oneself whether that sends a message of professionalism or if this is just another ho-bo Jaca-style PR-stunt... Souvernirs and memorabilia are available for purchase on the website.   Munich, Germany Munich, Germany, has declared that they will enter a 2018 Winter Olympic Bid, should Salzburg be unsucessfull in its 2014 WOG bid. Salzburg has already announced that they will not enter a 2018 bid, and we therefore place Munchen on the green-list.       Grenoble, France Grenoble is coming back out of the woodwork and are considering a bid for the Games once more. There has been no speak of Grenoble since they beat Calgary for the 1968 Games, but the little French village has stayed among the top resorts of the Alps for decades and would probably do great once again. One drawback is the current 2016 Summer Games bids by Paris; France won't get two games in a two year period, so one will most likely ruin the other's chances. Also, it has to go two rounds first with its French competitors.      Almaty, Kazakhstan Almaty, or Alma Ata, is the Winter Sports capital of the Central Asia region. A part of the World Cup circuit in both speed skating and skiing diciplines it has a long tradition of hosting major winter sport events. A former Soviet republic, Kazakhstan is rebuilding its former glory, and is excelling in culture, tourism and sports. The nation has a large contingent to the Olympic Games, primarily in sports such as ice hockey, skiing and speed skating. Human rights may have been an issue before, but since Bejing got the goods, nobody takes the IOC seriously anymore when they claim that a country must have a stable political situation to be awarded the Games. The only way to get to Almaty is to fly in, so as long as their local infrastructure is rebuilt along with stadiums and rinks, they might be able to pull it off. That is, if they decide to run for 2018. The URL almaty2018.com has been reserved, so either someone is out to make a quick buck, or the committee has started its preliminary work.       Borjomi, Georgia Boromji launched an unsuccessful bid for the 2014 games and are still undecided whether to go another round. Their 2014 website is still up and presumably a new bid will resemble the previous. The bid had a strong backing from the Georgian Olympic Committee and the Georgians. A poll shows nearly 90% public backing of a bid. The Caucasus mountains has great skiing, but the question, as it is for many hosts; Do they have the infrastructure, economy and security measures in place to host tens of thousands spectators? See their 2014 pages here.     Sofia, Bulgaria Sofia has applied many times, but the Olympic Committee has never found room for the Bulgarian capital among the top seed. Sofia most likely has suffered from the Easter European lack of social structure and economy, but then again, 1984 saw Sarajevo, so why not? This time Sofia will show off the new East Europe, rid of its old political mayhem and rising like a bird Phoenix, sparkling in the geographical center of Eurasia, bringing together East and West in a brand new way. (DECEMBER 2006 UPDATE:) The Bulgarian Olympic Commitee was going to decide whether to bid in December 2006, but this decision has been postponed till the end of 2007. See their 2014 website here.          Potential US Candidates   Denver, Colorado

A member of the rare "Won the bid but didn't host the Games club", Denver has never gotten to show the world what it can serve. Since 1976 when first awarded the games, Denver has lived under the eternal shadow of great host cities that actually came through. This time around however, they are out to show the world they are a "Can Do" host, and the magnificent Rockies are ready to bombard you with world class snow, beer, food and a scenery that will take your breath away. As with the other US cadidates, much will be decided by USOC in chosing to go for 2016SOG or 2018WOG. There is a general consensus that USOC as of today would prefer the Summer Games. (FEBRURARY 2007 UPDATE:) Contacts within the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) informs us that USOC will not decide on a potential 2018 WOG bid until 2010. USOC still has its hands full in deciding on the seemingly likely Chicago 2016 SOG bid. This obviously does not imply that the US WOG candidates should slow down their efforts, on the contrary; knowing how rough a process the internal USA candidate showdown can be, we can only encourage the candidates to step it up a noch! (APRIL 2007 UPDATE: Chicago has been elected the US 2016 SOG candidate. If Chicago were to get the 2016 Games, the USOC 2018 WOG Bid will most likely not be submitted. The 2016 SOG will be decided in 2009.)