IOC struggling to find home for 2030 Winter Olympics — and a Tokyo Games scandal is not helping
Story by Chris Corday •
Sapporo seems like an ideal place to host the world's top athletes seven years from now.
The city has an Olympic legacy as the first in Asia to stage a Winter Games, in 1972.
Its location on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido is reliably snowy and cold, and packed with ski resorts famous for world-class powder.
And until recently, there appeared to be significant local support for the city's bid to host the Winter Games again in 2030, with polls last year suggesting more than half of residents were in favour of the idea.
But just as Sapporo started officially pushing for the Games, a bribery scandal involving Japan's most recent Olympics in Tokyo is casting a dark shadow on its plans.
In August, prosecutors arrested 78-year-old Haruyuki Takahashi, an executive board member of the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee, eventually accusing him of accepting $1.4 million US in bribes from Japanese companies, in return for helping them to be selected as official Games sponsors.
The case has widened into a major corruption and bid-rigging investigation, and some key figures think it could sink Sapporo's shot at landing the Olympics.
"It seems very severe," said Seiko Hashimoto, the former president of Tokyo's organizing committee, responding to reporters' questions in December about the impact of the scandal on the bid.
"Unless it becomes clear that the 2030 Games are completely different from the 2020 Games, it'll be difficult to increase support," Hashimoto said, according to a report in the Yomiuri newspaper.
IOC indefinitely postpones decision on 2030 host
Things could have been so different for Sapporo.
Only a few months ago, it was up against solid candidates for 2030 in Vancouver and Salt Lake City.
Canadian lugers hurtle down the track. The IOC is having trouble securing a host city for 2030, and has cited climate change as one concern, although experts are skeptical that is the sole reason.© Daniel Mihailescu/AFP via Getty Images
But in October, B.C.'s government decided not to support Vancouver's bid, and organizers in Utah had already signalled they would rather host in 2034.
The path looked clear for Japan's northern capital to host the Games, but the International Olympic Committee has pushed the pause button instead.
It was expected to name the 2030 host city at the IOC's General Assembly meeting in October 2023, but it put off the decision without giving a new timeline.
Committee members had long operated on a fixed schedule for choosing host cities, making their pick seven years before the Games.
That won't happen this time, after IOC Olympic Games executive director Christophe Dubi announced a delay for choosing the 2030 host, suggesting the organization's Future Host Commission needs to further examine the challenges the Winter Olympics are facing.
"This will give the commission more time to have a clearer picture and make a sound decision for 2030," said Dubi at an online news conference in December.
The indefinite delay for a host is "simply unprecedented," said Robert Livingstone, a Canadian expert on the Olympic bidding process and founder of the news site
A view of the Sapporo Odori Park and city centre in Sapporo,
Story by Chris Corday •
Sapporo seems like an ideal place to host the world's top athletes seven years from now.
The city has an Olympic legacy as the first in Asia to stage a Winter Games, in 1972.
Its location on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido is reliably snowy and cold, and packed with ski resorts famous for world-class powder.
And until recently, there appeared to be significant local support for the city's bid to host the Winter Games again in 2030, with polls last year suggesting more than half of residents were in favour of the idea.
But just as Sapporo started officially pushing for the Games, a bribery scandal involving Japan's most recent Olympics in Tokyo is casting a dark shadow on its plans.
In August, prosecutors arrested 78-year-old Haruyuki Takahashi, an executive board member of the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee, eventually accusing him of accepting $1.4 million US in bribes from Japanese companies, in return for helping them to be selected as official Games sponsors.
The case has widened into a major corruption and bid-rigging investigation, and some key figures think it could sink Sapporo's shot at landing the Olympics.
"It seems very severe," said Seiko Hashimoto, the former president of Tokyo's organizing committee, responding to reporters' questions in December about the impact of the scandal on the bid.
"Unless it becomes clear that the 2030 Games are completely different from the 2020 Games, it'll be difficult to increase support," Hashimoto said, according to a report in the Yomiuri newspaper.
IOC indefinitely postpones decision on 2030 host
Things could have been so different for Sapporo.
Only a few months ago, it was up against solid candidates for 2030 in Vancouver and Salt Lake City.
Canadian lugers hurtle down the track. The IOC is having trouble securing a host city for 2030, and has cited climate change as one concern, although experts are skeptical that is the sole reason.© Daniel Mihailescu/AFP via Getty Images
But in October, B.C.'s government decided not to support Vancouver's bid, and organizers in Utah had already signalled they would rather host in 2034.
The path looked clear for Japan's northern capital to host the Games, but the International Olympic Committee has pushed the pause button instead.
It was expected to name the 2030 host city at the IOC's General Assembly meeting in October 2023, but it put off the decision without giving a new timeline.
Committee members had long operated on a fixed schedule for choosing host cities, making their pick seven years before the Games.
That won't happen this time, after IOC Olympic Games executive director Christophe Dubi announced a delay for choosing the 2030 host, suggesting the organization's Future Host Commission needs to further examine the challenges the Winter Olympics are facing.
"This will give the commission more time to have a clearer picture and make a sound decision for 2030," said Dubi at an online news conference in December.
The indefinite delay for a host is "simply unprecedented," said Robert Livingstone, a Canadian expert on the Olympic bidding process and founder of the news site
A view of the Sapporo Odori Park and city centre in Sapporo,
Hokkaido, Japan, in February 2020.© Issei Kato/Reuters
"I call what happened a complete reset, because now they [the IOC] have opened it up, anyone could be in now," said Livingstone, who thinks the earliest a host city would be named is at a summit in the summer of 2024.
"It's a new race, and because of that, Sapporo, who potentially would have had it locked, now they're back in the fight."
The IOC has said it's considering a plan to award the 2030 and 2034 Winter Olympics at the same time.
Officials cite climate change concerns for delay
The IOC cited concerns about a changing climate and its impact on future hosts as the main reason for the delay.
The organization is struggling to deal with the inconvenient reality that a smaller pool of cities are bidding for the Winter Olympics, and the effects of a warming climate means fewer places will realistically be capable of hosting them.
Olympic officials say they will analyze the prospect of establishing a rotation between a few permanent host cities to help deal with the uncertainty.
A recent study from the University of Waterloo in Ontario analyzed 21 previous hosts of the Winter Games and suggested only Sapporo would be able to safely and viably stage the Olympics by the end of the century, if greenhouse gas emissions are not dramatically reduced.
But some Olympics-watchers doubt the IOC's move to put off its pick for 2030 is related to climate.
"We would do ourselves a favour to bring some healthy skepticism to that assertion, simply because they've been talking about the importance of environmental sustainability since the 1990s," said Jules Boykoff, a vocal critic of the IOC and a political science professor at Pacific University in Portland, Ore.
Officers of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office enter to search the headquarters of publisher Kadokawa Corp in Tokyo, Japan, in this photo taken on Sept. 6, 2022.
"I call what happened a complete reset, because now they [the IOC] have opened it up, anyone could be in now," said Livingstone, who thinks the earliest a host city would be named is at a summit in the summer of 2024.
"It's a new race, and because of that, Sapporo, who potentially would have had it locked, now they're back in the fight."
The IOC has said it's considering a plan to award the 2030 and 2034 Winter Olympics at the same time.
Officials cite climate change concerns for delay
The IOC cited concerns about a changing climate and its impact on future hosts as the main reason for the delay.
The organization is struggling to deal with the inconvenient reality that a smaller pool of cities are bidding for the Winter Olympics, and the effects of a warming climate means fewer places will realistically be capable of hosting them.
Olympic officials say they will analyze the prospect of establishing a rotation between a few permanent host cities to help deal with the uncertainty.
A recent study from the University of Waterloo in Ontario analyzed 21 previous hosts of the Winter Games and suggested only Sapporo would be able to safely and viably stage the Olympics by the end of the century, if greenhouse gas emissions are not dramatically reduced.
But some Olympics-watchers doubt the IOC's move to put off its pick for 2030 is related to climate.
"We would do ourselves a favour to bring some healthy skepticism to that assertion, simply because they've been talking about the importance of environmental sustainability since the 1990s," said Jules Boykoff, a vocal critic of the IOC and a political science professor at Pacific University in Portland, Ore.
Officers of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office enter to search the headquarters of publisher Kadokawa Corp in Tokyo, Japan, in this photo taken on Sept. 6, 2022.
© Kyodo via Reuters
Boykoff believes climate change has been "a secondary, if not tertiary concern" to the IOC, and thinks the delay is "a buying-time kind of endeavour" for Sapporo's bid, while the bribery scandal continues to generate negative headlines in Japan.
"Maybe if they wait it out long enough, then there might even be some convictions for some of these people. Then [the IOC] can just wag a finger at those particular individuals and not treat it like it's a structural problem with the Olympics," said Boykoff.
Boykoff believes climate change has been "a secondary, if not tertiary concern" to the IOC, and thinks the delay is "a buying-time kind of endeavour" for Sapporo's bid, while the bribery scandal continues to generate negative headlines in Japan.
"Maybe if they wait it out long enough, then there might even be some convictions for some of these people. Then [the IOC] can just wag a finger at those particular individuals and not treat it like it's a structural problem with the Olympics," said Boykoff.
The IOC 'forgets' about scandals
The scandal could also renew opposition to the Olympics within Japan, which is less than two years removed from the much-maligned Tokyo Games, controversially held without spectators in the middle of the pandemic.
Some are now questioning whether Sapporo should ditch the plan to host another Games.
On Dec. 20, the City of Sapporo and the Japanese Olympic Committee bowed to the public pressure, announcing they are temporarily pausing the active promotion of the bid.
"The situation has changed drastically. We need to reaffirm the will of the people," Sapporo Mayor Katsuhiro Akimoto told a media conference, according to the Yomiuri newspaper.
The report said the mayor pledged to conduct another survey to determine if residents support hosting the Games.
Nao Masumoto, a visiting professor of Olympic studies at Tokyo Metropolitan University, thinks the IOC still wants to put the 2030 Games in Sapporo and is waiting until the problems "calm down."
He says local support for the plan has diminished since the scandal emerged, and thinks it was a "big mistake" that Sapporo's municipal government decided not to hold a public referendum on its bid.
"It's very important to have democratic decision-making [for Olympic bids]," said Masumoto.
But he believes things could still turn around, if another story replaces the corruption scandal in Japan's news cycle, and people start to forget.
"The IOC forgets, too," he laughed.
With files from The Associated Press and Reuters
By Deutsche Welle
2022/12/23
Winter sport disciplines like ski jumping face an uncertain future
"I believe it would be good for us to get away from the term winter sports."
This sentence was spoken by Alexander Stöckl, a ski-jumping coach, of all people. The Austrian, who has been in charge of the Norwegian national team since 2011, does not necessarily see the future of his sport on snow-covered hills and jumping slopes.
"I think it'd be good if we tried to bring in a year-round mindset," said Stöckl. "I believe that we are an extreme sport and that you can do it no matter where and no matter how."
The start of this season helped make the Austrian's point. There was no snow in Zakopane, Poland at the beginning of November, so the ski jumpers had to land on mats instead of powder.
"We are lucky that we can use mats, that it is feasible and that we don't need snow," said Stöckl, with a view to climate change.
Mat jumping: Just add water and electricity
In fact, jumpers have been using mats in preseason training for years. The mats can be used year-round with only water and electricity required. Water is constantly fed into the inrun track, which consists of two plastic or ceramic channels. It partially freezes there thanks to cooling units underneath.
The individual fibers of the mat resemble the very long bristles of a coarse broom and are constantly watered from the sides. The watering of the jump and the uphill slope form a closed circuit. The water is collected at the bottom, pumped upwards and reused. The mats remain on the slope even in winter and are covered with netting so that the snow sticks to them and does not slide off. The slope's gradient is 35 to 38 degrees at its steepest point.
Ski jumping in Africa or Australia?
The fact that you no longer need snow to hold a ski-jumping event has Alexander Stöckl thinking about new possibilities.
"What would it be like if in 10 years' time children all over the world dreamed of flying 250 meters on skis?” he asked. "And not just those who ski in Europe or maybe in North America. We can do that because we can install mat jumps anywhere."
So, ski jumping in Africa, Australia or South America? And possibly in completely new formats, away from traditional ski jumping with first and second rounds? A willingness to move away from winter sports and towards extreme sports is gathering pace among the athletes.
"Basically, I do believe that you always have to develop further – even in terms of formats," said Germany's top ski jumper, Karl Geiger. "I wouldn't dismiss the idea as completely absurd."
It’s more difficult to judge how quickly fans would accept snow-free competitions outside the usual season and venues. After all, there has been a World Cup since 1994, but it has not been a resounding success, even in traditional ski-jumping nations.
Alpine skiing struggles for future
Alpine skiing is facing much more difficulties than ski jumping. At the start of this World Cup winter, several entire weekends had to be canceled because the weather was too mild. An overcrowded World Cup calendar with races in areas that are no longer guaranteed to have snow as early as October is a problem. The national ski federations had raised this concern with the world governing body FIS, but their protests have fallen on deaf ears.
"Nobody wanted the season to start so early in October," Wolfgang Maier, Alpine director of the German Ski Association (DSV), told German broadcaster Sport1. Maier has called for the start of the season to be moved to November and for it to wrap up by mid-March at the latest.
At a time when glaciers are melting, alpine skiing is already having a hard time defending its raison d'être. Ski resorts take up a lot of land, and the effects on the environment are enormous. The lack of natural snow makes it necessary to make artificial snow,which uses up a lot of energy. This is particularly problematic during an energy crisis. The pistes, lifts, roads, parking lots and hotels require a lot of space, which is takes away from the natural habitat of plants and animals.
No hosts for Winter Games?
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is also worried about the future of winter sports, because as climate change progresses, the number of potential hosts for the Winter Olympics is declining.
IOC President Thomas Bach has described the impact of climate change on winter sports as "alarming." In 2026, the Winter Games are to be hosted by Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, a region in which (so far) ample snow is almost a certainty. However, the awarding of the hosting rights for the 2030 Winter Games has been postponed for a year.
Apart from the problem of finding a venue that is more-or-less guaranteed to have enough snow in February, there is a growing lack of support for hosting Olympic Games among the general population and politicians. Who would want to spend billions in taxpayer money to build ski slopes, cross-country ski trails and a bobsleigh and luge track that will either not be used afterwards or can only be operated with great effort and at high costs?
Vancouver, 2010 host, and one of the promising candidates for 2030, seems to be out of the running, as the government of the province of British Columbia refused to spend billions in taxpayer money to support a bid. The Japanese winter sports resort of Sapporo, which hosted the 1972 Winter Games, has put its bid on hold. The local authorities want to conduct a nationwide survey in the spring to gauge how much enthusiasm the population still has for the Olympics after the corruption scandal surrounding the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo.
Rotation model?
Researchers recently determined that most of the previous hosts of the Winter Games would no longer be able to offer appropriate conditions for the Olympics by the end of this century anyway. There are reports that the IOC is considering moving to a system in which the Games would rotate among a fixed number of hosts – instead of the current bidding process for hosting rights.
This, of course, assumes that people in those regions even support hosting major winter sporting events in the first place.
This article was first published in German.
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