French Alps 2030 short on time and cash but will be ready, Games chief says
MILAN, Feb 21 : The 2030 French Alps Winter Olympics are struggling with tight deadlines, limited cash and infighting but Games chief Edgar Grospiron said on Saturday they would be ready on time and deliver a successful event.
The French Alps project will be staged in Nice and the nearby Alpine regions, with a similar spread-out plan as the Milano Cortina Games, which end on Sunday. The Olympics in Italy are the first to try out this new concept in order to use existing venues in the country while trying to keep costs down.
But French organisers will not be able to finalise their venues and sports plans until an International Olympic Committee ratifies them at its session in June.
WIDE-RANGING IOC REVIEW DUE
IOC President Kirsty Coventry, who took over last year, has ordered a wide-ranging review of all aspects of future Olympic Games structure - from bidding to the sports programme and the marketing plans - with the results announced in June.
"We know we have little time, there's little time, little money because of financial constraints but we know we can do it," Grospiron told a press conference. "We will follow the recommendations and the choices that will be made by the IOC."
He said so far 85 per cent of the venues had been finalised. Among those sports still to find a home is speed skating with a possible option of moving it either to nearby Torino in Italy, which hosted the 2006 Olympics and has a skating rink, or in Heerenveen's Thialf ice arena in the Netherlands.
French organisers will have three and a half years to implement their plans from June onwards.
2030 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE TO MEET ON SUNDAY
It would be the first time in more than 70 years that an Olympic event for summer or winter editions is staged in a different country other than the Games host city. The 1956 Melbourne Olympics had all equestrian events held in Stockholm due to strict quarantine laws in Australia.
"For the first time we will have a Games with a discipline in another European country. This will be new; we will see if other Games do it," Grospiron said.
The French project has also been hit by infighting and resignations and "irreconcilable differences" between Grospiron and Games CEO Cyril Linette, according to an official statement, with an executive committee meeting set for Sunday, the day of the Milano Cortina closing ceremony and the official handover of the Olympic flag from Italy to the next Winter Games hosts, France.
Grospiron said despite these obstacles, organisers could draw on considerable resources, from experience in staging top winter sports competitions across many sports each year to having resources and knowledge from the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, to create a successful event.
"We are confident in our capacity, a high degree of excellence for many reasons," he said. "We will be able to deliver the Games on time and at the level people expect."
