Latest news with #OCOG
Associated Press
07-02-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Setting a New Benchmark
International Olympic Committee news The Olympic atmosphere always provides something different compared with other sporting events. Athletes often say that the Olympic experience is one that will be unique from any other they go through across their career, and spectators know how special the Olympic Games are. Our role at the IOC Coordination Commission for the XXV Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 is to support the Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (OCOG) as much as we can to help their vision come to life. Every organiser is different, but each of them adapts their strategies alongside the IOC framework when putting together their edition of the Games. I was part of the evaluation commission when the Games were awarded to Milano Cortina back in 2019. From the start, Milano Cortina 2026 has had a very strong awareness of Olympic Agenda 2020 and how to create Games that are suited for the future within their context. Once a host has been selected, the OCOG makes an agreement with the IOC about the specifications of the upcoming Games in the form of a host contract. We support them in fulfilling that contract and allow them to put their own unique mark on the Games. These Winter Games were awarded just before the launch of Olympic Agenda 2020+5, and Milano Cortina 2026 is very much aligning with its objectives as well. Sustainability will, of course, be a major focus. A large part of their concept is to use the venues that they already have and not to build any new ones that don't have a legacy prospect to them. This is all just part of being a more sustainable organiser compared with the past when it was more common to build a lot of new venues and not know exactly how much they were going to be used after the Games. The OCOG had the great opportunity to send a large delegation to Paris 2024. There is, of course, a difference between Winter and Summer Games, but there are many takeaways from Paris which can be transformed and applied to Milano Cortina's concept. Paris 2024 was really good at finding solutions to sustainability issues, doing things that had never been done before. Naturally, Milano Cortina will implement according to the context of their project, but as we move from the planning phase into the operational phase, the learnings on different topics and issues from previous Games will be really helpful. This is, to me, one of the beauties of the Olympic Movement – the way the Games are set up, each edition will have something to offer the next, be it winter or summer. We already know that the 2030 Olympic Winter Games will be in the French Alps, and they will probably look at Milano Cortina 2026 and hopefully be able to learn a lot. I think that spectators will be treated to an amazing event, too. A lot of the disciplines will have areas dedicated to the fan experience, and the OCOG knows that it will be a unique challenge compared with simply being in one big city. We are very aware that at every venue we need to create that Olympic atmosphere. For the fans at home, they can expect it to be much like Paris, with technology, broadcasting and social media tying the Games together online. I really hope that these Games will be something that the Italian population can remember with fondness. I know from having experienced a home Games, at Lillehammer 1994, that it's still very much part of our identity, who we are, what we are. If you ask any Norwegian on the street of a certain age about their proudest moments, the chances are that they'll mention the Lillehammer Games. And I really hope that future Games organisers will create that same feeling, because I think it means a lot for a nation and for the development of sport. For the future of the Winter Games, Milano Cortina 2026 will surely be a benchmark for how we can do it. Kristin Kloster is a lawyer and experienced sports administrator. She served as President of the Norwegian Equestrian Federation for 10 years (2003-2012) and a Vice-President of the Norwegian NOC (2011-2019). Since joining the IOC, Kloster has served on several commissions including as Chair of the Future Host Commission for the Games of the Olympiad (2019-2021) and as a member of the Olympic Solidarity and Sustainability and Legacy Commissions.
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Why a top IOC executive is coming to Utah
Next week, a top International Olympic Committee executive will be in Utah to kick off planning for the 2034 Winter Games. The organizers of Utah's next Olympics are in 'a very unusual situation,' IOC Olympic Games Executive Director Christophe Dubi told the Deseret News Tuesday in a virtual interview from the organization's Swiss headquarters. 'We have a 10 years' life span. We have very little to do on the fundamentals for the Games, that is, the venues,' since the facilities from the 2002 Winter Games are set to be used again. 'We have what you know is a perfect situation.' 'What are the first programs we're going to tackle and deliver, so that we start involving the communities and kids in particular?' — IOC Olympic Games Executive Director Christophe Dubi So what's there to talk about during his two-day visit that follows a stop in Los Angeles, the host of the 2028 Summer Games? Plenty, it turns out. Utah has yet to announce an organizing committee for the Olympic Games, even though the host contract signed by Gov. Spencer Cox after last year's July 24 IOC vote set a Christmas Eve deadline for putting what's known as an OCOG in place. That's coming 'pretty soon,' Dubi said. 'We're having now regular conversations in every shape and form.' But he also wants to know how Utah will use the time it's been given under the new, less formal bid process to organize another Winter Games. Previously, organizers had just seven years to get ready for one of the world's largest sporting events. There needs to be a decision 'on the priorities in what is the land of opportunity,' Dubi said. 'What are the first programs we're going to tackle and deliver, so that we start involving the communities and kids in particular?' Detailed planning, he said, can wait. 'It's urgent to wait with respect to Games organization,' Dubi said, the same advice he offered nearly a year ago during an inspection tour of Utah's Olympic venues, citing the advances to come in artificial intelligence and other technology. He said preparation also need to get underway to ensure Utah's Olympic organizers get the most out of the 2026 Winter Games in Milan-Cortina, Italy, just a year away. That includes figuring out who needs to go, Dubi said. 'It sounds a long time, a year, except that we are operating over a very large territory. The plans have to be extremely well designed' for the Utah observers in Italy, he said. 'It has to be planned now.' Unlike Utah's compact Olympics, where every venue is within an hour of the athlete housing at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, the Milan-Cortina Games are spread across a wide swath of Italy. That means the lessons there for Utah organizers won't be about logistics like transporting athletes from Point A to Point B, Dubi said. 'The geographical distribution is so different that this is absolutely not what they're going to be looking at,' he said. Instead, Dubi suggested Utahns focus instead on what Italians are bringing to the Olympics. 'It's the way the Italians will deliver in each and every venue,' he said, bringing the spirit of the Games to the streets just as Paris' 2024 Summer Games did. 'It's the experience you can deliver if your are generous enough to have not only the venues hosting the best sport.' Closing streets, providing gathering places for the public and 'offering the best possible hospitality outside of the best possible field of play. This is where Italians will be really, really good,' Dubi said. 'You have to be part of the best of what winter sports can offer.' In Utah, he said, 'it will have a different flavor, different color, different music, different everything. But what you're looking for as a participant is that warmth, and that feeling of being part of something very special.' Whether felt as an athlete, a volunteer or a spectator, that's 'a once in a lifetime experience.' Fraser Bullock, president and CEO of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games that was behind the bid, said he's looking forward to the visit by Dubi and his team, calling the IOC executive 'a great friend going back to our partnership together in 2002.' Bullock said they'll 'begin the early phase of outlining our integrated planning process. They have deep knowledge in many areas that will help us ensure we put on the best Games possible.' He stopped short of saying the organizing committee will be announced during Dubi's visit, set for Feb. 13 and 14. Bullock, who's 69, is expected to be named the leader of the OCOG while setting up a successor. A new bill introduced this session at the Utah Legislature would require the governor and legislative leaders to sign off on the head of the organizing committee. Utah taxpayers are the guarantor of the privately funded Games expected to cost a total of $4 billion. 'I really like the way that is being approached,' Dubi said, since 'an organizing committee is always a public-private partnership' that needs the 'consent of those backing and those that will support the Games.' The IOC would also expect to be 'consulted, and comfortable with the choice,' he said, describing Bullock as 'someone I always very much admire and consider as a friend. He's a very special individual, for sure.' Dubi said Utah's organizing committee will likely be similar to the one that oversaw the 2002 Winter Games. Unlike in the rest of the world, the organization responsible for staging a Games in the United States is entirely privately financed. The 2030 Winter Games in the French Alps, for example, already has funding committed from regional and national authorities, but the 'economic capacity' of the United States is much larger compared to the European market, he said. 'It's incredible, the support you have' for sport, Dubi said, including from wealthy donors. 'It's only in the U.S.' He said there's 'dynamism' that comes from a private organization that has the backing of public authorities. That includes U.S. President Donald Trump. Just days before being sworn in, Trump pledged his support for the Los Angeles Games during a meeting at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida with Casey Wasserman, LA28's president and chairman. 'These are America's Olympics,' Trump told Wasserman, according to a report in Axios based on an unnamed source. 'These are more important than ever to L.A. and I'm going to be supportive in every way possible and make them the greatest Games.' Dubi said that 'shows the commitment of Washington to what for sure will be extraordinary Games' in a city that has seen more than 10,000 homes destroyed and at least 29 lives lost in the recent wildfires. 'Our hearts and minds go to all those that have been affected. But at the same time, with this very American spirit, which is in such adversity, fight back and demonstrate that we can come back stronger,' Dubi said. 'This is something cultural deep-rooted in the U.S.' The Olympics being held twice in the United States within a six-year span reflects the IOC's level of trust and the quality of the relationship, he said. To him, the United States means opportunities. 'What do we invent in Los Angeles in what is the most buzzing of the entertainment and sports market,' Dubi asked, before returning to the site of the 'extraordinary' 2002 Winter Games, in 2034. 'What do we invent for these Games,' he said, calling Utah a place 'where the conditions are perfect.'
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Now that Utah has the 2034 Winter Games, here's what lawmakers want to do
Should the head of the 2034 Winter Games have to be approved by Utah's governor and legislative leaders? A new bill, HB321, spells out that the state's elected executive and legislative branch leaders would need to sign off on whoever is 'proposed to serve as a director' for the yet to be announced organizing committee responsible for putting on the privately funded event. But the bid leader expected to helm the organizing committee said that portion of the bill will change. 'More clarity is coming soon,' said Fraser Bullock, president and CEO of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games behind the bid. Rather than describing the bill as in flux, he said 'more accurate would be to say the language in the bill needs to be updated.' Bullock said the state's role will become clear when the details of who will run the state's next Olympics are made public, providing 'a comprehensive view of the OCOG (organizing committee for the Olympic Games) structure and formation.' That's expected in the coming weeks, he said. Gov. Spencer Cox, Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, and House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, are involved in putting together the organizing committee, along with U.S. and international Olympic officials. Rep. Jon Hawkins, the bill's sponsor and the House chairman of the Utah Legislature's Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Coordination Committee set up to oversee the Games, said 'the language is still being worked out.' Hawkins, R-Pleasant Grove, did not address why the bill was drafted to give state leaders authority over who heads the organizing committee. Asked about that changing, he said, 'I don't know where it will land at this point.' The explanation in the bill is that due to 'the potential for multiple impacts on the state in relation to (the) hosting of the (G)ames, the state has an interest in the activities and performance of the host committee.' The bill also says 'the state may be required to expend public resources of finances' for a second Winter Games. The budget for hosting, expected to add up to $4 billion, is set to come from private sources, largely the sale of broadcast rights, sponsorships and tickets. But it's the state that serves as the ultimate guarantor of the Games. When the Olympics were awarded by the International Olympic Committee last July, Cox signed the host contract on behalf of the state, pledging taxpayers would pick up any shortfall. The state did the same for the 2002 Winter Games, even though Salt Lake City's mayor signed that contract. Those Olympics made a profit, repaying state funds used to build competition venues and establishing an endowment to help keep them running. In recent years, some $92 million has been appropriated by the Legislature for Olympic venues. The 2002 Winter Games were run by former U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney, who was recruited by state leaders to take over the organizing committee amid a global scandal surrounding a million dollars in cash and gift Utah bidders gave to IOC members. Romney was ultimately named to the top job by the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, known as SLOC. Started as an extension of the 2002 bid committee, it was overhauled in the scandal and included representatives of the governor and other elected officials. This year's bill, which has not yet been assigned to a committee for a hearing, follows legislation about the state's role in another Olympics that was passed in 2023, when Utah was still bidding to host either the 2030 or 2034 Winter Games. The Legislature's Olympic oversight committee, created by the earlier legislation, would review any financial obligation involving the state undertaken by Games organizers, as well as receive updates at least twice yearly.
