It was to be expected. Barcelona's candidacy for the 2022 Winter Games, announced by the city's mayor almost three years ago, confirmed last month despite Madrid's defeat in the race for the 2020 Summer Games, is seriously in doubt. the wing. Officially, nothing has leaked yet. But according to certain sources close to the Catalan municipality, cited by the Spanish press, the project would indeed be abandoned.

The reason is money. In the entourage of the mayor of Barcelona, ​​Xavier Trias, the cost of a candidacy would be considered excessive in the economic situation of Spain. Some of his advisors would even argue that such an expenditure would risk, in the event of failure, favoring a victory for the opposition in the next municipal elections.

The defeat of Madrid, beaten in the first round last September in Buenos Aires, for the award of the 1 Summer Games, also weighed in the balance. The Spanish capital was then criticized for not having resolved its problems with doping. A burden that a Barcelona bid for the 2020 Winter Games should also have dragged behind it.

However, Barcelona's file did not lack assets. The opening and closing ceremonies of the Games were planned in town, as well as the indoor events (skating, short-track, hockey, etc.), with the snow disciplines being scheduled in the Pyrenees resorts.

Barcelona dreamed of becoming the first city in history to host the Summer and Winter Games. A dream that Munich can still cherish. The Bavarian city, host of the Summer Games in 1972, should soon submit a candidacy for the Winter Games in 2022. But the project must first pass the stage of a referendum, organized on November 10 among the populations concerned. , in Munich, but also Berchtesgaden and Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

The deadline for submitting candidacy files was set by the IOC for November 14, 2013. To date, only one is officially a candidate: Almaty, the former capital of Kazakhstan. But his chances of winning, eight years after the Sochi Games, appear very slim.