Opponents of Berne’s 2010 Winter Olympic Bid say the city can’t compete with Vancouver’s bid. Many critics argue that Berne has neither the facilities nor the money required to stage an Olympic Games.
And it seems the campaign is already in debt with 11 months of campaigning to come.
But according to a report the Berne committee said several private and corporate sponsors had come forward in the past few days whose donations were enough to cancel the debt.
If Berne is selected to host the Games it will need the support of the people of canton Berne who will vote in the autumn on whether or not to approve a budget of SFr22.5 million for the Games.
Dres von Weissenfluh, committee director general, told swissinfo, “it’s a great chance for the canton, which is already financially hard up. It’ll be important for tourism and investment and it’ll also signal the importance of Switzerland as a centre for winter sports”.
The Berne committee doesn’t plan to emulate the scale and extravagance of the Salt Lake City Games. Instead it says the event should focus on sports, not infrastructure.
It plans to use mostly existing facilities in Berne and around Montreux, with the exception of building some new ice rinks. Any new facilities will be environmentally friendly and reusable after the Games are over.
Von Weissenfluh said, “the IOC has said that it’s keen to reduce the size of the Games, and if that’s the case, Berne stands a good chance. But if they want them to get bigger and bigger, then we won’t win – but we won’t change our plan”.
Another hurdle for a Berne Games is the 2006 Winter Olympics being held in Turin, about three hours from Berne. The IOC may think the two locations are too close to each other to run in succession.
Martin Hodler, the Berne committee chairman, told swissinfo, “I don’t think this will disadvantage us too much. The IOC has stressed that around two-thirds of the Winter Games should be held in Europe, which is still the heart of most winter sports”.
The GamesBids.com BidIndex has Salzburg in first place, Berne second and Vancouver third.
