And five. After Beijing in China, Krakow in Poland, Almaty in Kazakhstan and Lviv in Ukraine, the Norwegian capital, Oslo, has just taken its position on the starting line of the race for the 2022 Winter Games. The spokesperson for its committee candidate, Ingunn Olsen, assured this Thursday morning: “We will confirm before the deadline of November 14 (set by the IOC for the submission of candidacy files) our intention to be a candidate for the organization of the Games in 2022.”
With Oslo, the list of applicants is now full of five names. A sixth could complete it in the coming days, that of Munich, in Bavaria. But its decision to enter the race is subject to a referendum, organized on Sunday November 10 among the populations of the cities and resorts concerned by the German Olympic project.
Of these six candidates, certain or possible, five represent Europe. Only Beijing, the unexpected Asian candidacy, offers an alternative to a return of the Winter Games to the Old Continent, eight years after Sochi. But the Chinese file seems above all intended to take a position in the perspective of another, more solid attempt for the 2026 Games.
Just a candidate, the city of Oslo is already a favorite. The candidacy of the Norwegian capital received the support of 55,1% of residents during a popular consultation on September 9. It enjoys an excellent rating with the International Ski Federation, its president, Gianfranco Kasper, having declared last September that Oslo would, in his eyes, be the “strongest candidate. » And no one has forgotten the success of the Lillehammer Games in 1994, considered by many to be the most successful of the last twenty years.
The Norwegian file should be built around the concept of very compact, urban Games, “Games in the city”, with an Olympic springboard set up in the very heart of the Scandinavian capital. According to the local press, the Norwegian Minister of Culture and Sports, Thorhild Widvey, member of a new right-wing government that came to power last month, is in favor of an Oslo candidacy.
The host city is to be chosen on July 31, 2015. This will be Norway's fifth attempt at the Winter Games. In 2022, the country will celebrate, whatever happens, the 70th anniversary of the Oslo Games in 1952.
