With the Winter Olympics finished yet again, my thoughts turn to where they should go next. In 2018 they will be in South Korea, but what about 2022? The selection process for those games has begun, and I have a thought about where they should go, they should be awarded to Oslo, Norway.
That's going by the four cities currently making bids for the next games, and it's the logical choice. Going with Norway avoids some of the pitfalls faced by games in Sochi and it also makes good sense for the sake of athletic competition. Oslo simply is the best city for the job.
For one, Norway has all of the facilities you need, very little has to actually be built. That's a contrast to the current games in Sochi, which spent billions of dollars building facilities on its way to becoming the most expensive games ever run. Norway, on the other hand, has a strong Olympic program - witness their dominance overall in these games - and would have plenty of facilities to use if the games came to town. Naturally there would be renovations and new facilities, but they have a solid base to build on, and we wouldn't see a situation like in Sochi, where half-finished hotels and unorthodox bathroom arrangements have been par for the course over the past couple weeks.
Plus, another advantage would be anything built in Norway would be used, and we wouldn't see abandoned stadiums like in Beijing and Athens, since Norway would use all of their facilities. It is a country that participates in a wide spectrum of Olympic sports, and they are going to use any new facilities as part of their program. This isn't a case where suddenly a big swimming pool can't quite justify its existence after the games are over, Olso as a host city would have ample reason to use any upgraded facilities well into the future, and any Olympic games would simply be a good excuse to do any necessary upgrades that might be on the docket anyway, rather than do completely new buildings.
Another advantage is the fans, namely that there would be fans, a lot of them in fact. Norway does well, that's plain to see, but you can't do as well as Norway does if you don't have strong programming and a large number of people who are fans of the multitude of sports that comprise the Olympic events. One of the highlights in Sochi was a big crowd that got excited about their team's success, that was also a highlight in Vancouver four years ago. Norway, with their strong program, would be the same.
I can recognize the desire to bring Olympics to new countries which have never hosted the games, and take the games to different cities and places. But the risks of new places involve building billions of dollars worth of stadiums that won't be used, and putting countries into debt they can't really afford. With Norway, you get an Olympics that can be a reasonable price, with plenty of excited fans, cheering on a home team that is traditionally at or near the top of the standings each time they compete. It has everything you need for an exciting games, it avoids the controversies that have plagued Sochi, and it would likely wind up being a profitable games after all the ticket sales and promotional events are put together. In short, Oslo, Norway is the ideal choice for the games in 2022.
