Should Jaca be elected host city of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, the Games would begin January 31, 2014 with the Opening and Closing Ceremonies in Romareda Stadium where the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games soccer matches were held.
Education, Culture and Sports Minister Eva Almunia said Jaca 2014 officials had done excellent work. “We have presented a very good project and I am convinced that they are going to recognize it in the COI”. She said Jaca would be competing in the final phase of the bid process.
Enrique Villarroy, Mayor of Jaca, said that Jaca 2014 is “a project of every Aragon in which we have not excluded anyone”.
Jaca’s bid concept features two main locations – Zaragoza and Jaca. The two cities are about 142 kilometres apart with athletes and visitors being transported between the two cities by high-speed rail within 45 minutes and an hour’s drive by car.
Competitions will be held at Formigal (alpine skiing), Panticosa in the valley of Tena, (snowboarding, luge, bobsleigh and skeleton), and Astun and Candanchu in the Aragon Valley where there will be biathlon, cross-country skiing and Nordic combined. Zaragoza will host the curling, short track speed skating and figure skating competitions. Zaragoza, Huesca and Jaca will host hockey.
Jaca’s bid includes the construction of only three facilities since 75 per cent of the facilities have already been built or would be adapted for the Games.
Hotel accommodation in Zaragoza, Huesca and Jaca would surpass 28,000 rooms, more than the 25,000 required by the International Olympic Committee (IOC)
In a recent poll 91.4 percent of Argonese were in favour of Jaca’s bid for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games.
