[News] UPD: Calgary City Council approves exploratory bid study for 2026 Olympics

[craigwd]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

Better off doing short track at Max Bell then. That is actually a good spectator rink.

Again, you'd have to remove the boards and push the seats back to accommodate the cushions.

Originally Posted by getbak

The only two sports where Canada has directly benefitted from the facilities in Calgary are bobsleigh and speed skating. Prior to Calgary, Canada had only one medal in bobsleigh and 11 medals in speed skating (with 5 coming in 1932). Since Calgary, Canada has won 6 medals in bobsleigh and 24 in speed skating. Those numbers pale in comparison to the number of medals Canada has won in the new sports (28 in short track alone).

Look beyond Olympic medals and go to world rankings, results in the traditional sports following 1988, and athlete involvement. Everything has increased and it was a direct result of 88.

[Resolute 14]

I don't disagree, getbak.

But, a couple things...

First, most of those new medal sports got their debuts in Calgary. The 1988 games were the springboard that launched them to full medal status.

Second, much like the 'traditional' sports, Canada doesn't fare nearly as well without the funding and facilities that emerged - though in the case of both short track speed skating and aerial skiing, much of the success came out of Quebec.

[Table 5]

Speaking of traditional sports, I'm always mystified with how crappy we are in downhill skiing considering we have the Rockies and it being a pretty popular winter sport in this country. I don't expect us to be competing with Austria...but you'd think we'd have better results.

[polak]

Downhill skiing has become the least sexy skiing discipline next to cross country. No kid wants to be a downhill skier here.

We perform well in the more "hip" events like Ski-x and freestyle.

[habernac]

It's too expensive. Makes hockey look cheap.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Speaking of traditional sports, I'm always mystified with how crappy we are in downhill skiing considering we have the Rockies and it being a pretty popular winter sport in this country. I don't expect us to be competing with Austria...but you'd think we'd have better results.

It easily costs $20,000 to ski race as an older kid over here. No clue about Austria, but you're dealing with a pretty limited pool of kids based on parents income. Who knows if the genetically best ski athlete in Canada has even ever been skiing.

[polak]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

It easily costs $20,000 to ski race as an older kid over here. No clue about Austria, but you're dealing with a pretty limited pool of kids based on parents income. Who knows if the genetically best ski athlete in Canada has even ever been skiing.

I have but those tights make my ass look too chiseled.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

It easily costs $20,000 to ski race as an older kid over here. No clue about Austria, but you're dealing with a pretty limited pool of kids based on parents income. Who knows if the genetically best ski athlete in Canada has even ever been skiing.

I can't speak to the cost, but there is certainly more opportunity in Austria for high performance downhill skiing compared to Canada. There are 426 ski areas in Austria: a country comprising an area of 83,879 km2, and a population of 8.47 m people. Compare that to the 25 or so ski areas stretched between the Canadian Rockies and Coastal Mountains: an area of approx. 100,000 km2, and readily accessible by a population of 5–6 m people.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Speaking of traditional sports, I'm always mystified with how crappy we are in downhill skiing considering we have the Rockies and it being a pretty popular winter sport in this country. I don't expect us to be competing with Austria...but you'd think we'd have better results.

We have maybe 5 million who have mountain access at a young enough age to pull from and then Hockey and Soccer and other team sports weed them out. So our best atheles go into other sports and unlike the endurance sports where if you are genetically suitable a later start isn't that detrimental the skiing sports you need to start earlier.

[White Out 403]

Originally Posted by polak

I have but those tights make my ass look too chiseled.

Stupid Sexy polak

[cSpooge]

Originally Posted by polak

I have but those tights make my ass look too chiseled.

stupid sexy flanders!

[powderjunkie]

It's telling that the ad banners at the World Cup downhill events at Lake Louise are for products not even sold in North America. Even amongst the segment of the population interested in skiing, free-style and big mountain are more popular among the youths (and their dads).

[polak]

Big Mountain is where it's at and that should be the premiere ski event

[Zarley]

New poll out showing strong public support for an Olympic bid:

http://www.metronews.ca/news/calgary...-bid-poll.html

Calgarians can feel it all right – the Olympic spirit, that is.

In an exclusive ThinkHQ/Metro poll conducted in the days leading up to the opening of the Rio games, 54 per cent of Albertans and 60 per cent of Calgarians said they approve of Calgary entering a bid on the 2026 Winter Olympic Games.

The Globe had an in depth article on a potential Calgary bid as well:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...ticle31396030/

Going for gold – again
David Ebner

Three years ago, a small group of Calgarians considered a bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics. They didn’t have much time and the list of interested cities was crowded. The Calgarians didn’t push forward. Other bidders then turned away. Oslo, seen as a favourite, dropped out, as potential costs cut into public support. In the end, there were only two contenders, the fewest for an Olympics in more than three decades. Beijing won, narrowly defeating Almaty, Kazakhstan.

The episode jarred the imperious International Olympic Committee and added urgency to its nascent reforms, dubbed Olympic Agenda 2020. The key changes aimed at costs: making the Olympics less expensive to bid for and to stage.

In Calgary, the Olympic spirit was renewed – and the plan to consider a bid for the 2026 Winter Olympics went public in June. It has the enthusiastic support of the mayor and city council but also attracted criticism, from questions about the IOC – called “deeply corrupt” by one dissenting city councillor – to the value of hosting the Olympics. The last Winter Olympics in Russia cost a fortune and this month’s Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro have been beset by problems.

Calgary believes it can set a new standard. The city – mired in a deep recession – sees a second Olympics as the road to new infrastructure: transit, housing, and sports facilities. But organizers believe Calgary can do it on a budget and be a city that helps reshape the Olympics, to put on the big show at a reasonable cost. Calgary has done it well before, in 1988, and is ready to take a lesson from the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, which generated a golden glow and didn’t leave behind piles of debt.

[cam_wmh]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

I can't speak to the cost, but there is certainly more opportunity in Austria for high performance downhill skiing compared to Canada. There are 426 ski areas in Austria: a country comprising an area of 83,879 km2, and a population of 8.47 m people. Compare that to the 25 or so ski areas stretched between the Canadian Rockies and Coastal Mountains: an area of approx. 100,000 km2, and readily accessible by a population of 5–6 m people.

Interesting, didn't realize the number of resorts in Austria. Huge number.
Where did you find your 25 figure from? i want to think it's twice that.

Originally Posted by polak

Big Mountain is where it's at and that should be the premiere ski event

Great event, but terribly difficult, logistically. Location/Scheduling.

[socktape]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

It easily costs $20,000 to ski race as an older kid over here. No clue about Austria, but you're dealing with a pretty limited pool of kids based on parents income. Who knows if the genetically best ski athlete in Canada has even ever been skiing.

I don't have a source but i have heard that a lot of the European countries have large corporate funding for the development of alpine athletes. The cost is probably one of the highest barriers here in Canada. The young kids are even upwards of $10,000 (equipment, coaching, lift passes etc)a year before they start to get serious. It wouldn't surprise me in the least that older kids are pushing above $20,000 a year. This probably doesn't even include travel costs (driving, food, hotels if needed) every weekend.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by cam_wmh

Interesting, didn't realize the number of resorts in Austria. Huge number.
Where did you find your 25 figure from? i want to think it's twice that.

The figure is a guess that I drew from destination maps published on the internet, and my own recollections, so I readily admit that it is possibly low. In fact, according to Wikipedia there are 62 ski areas spread between Alberta and BC, but I am sceptical regarding how many of those remain in regular operation with places listed like Fortress, and the Coulee slopes like in Fairview or Drumheller.

In any event, the number still pales in comparison to the facilities in Austria, which is a veritable, gigantic ski area nation-state.

[cam_wmh]

Originally Posted by socktape

I don't have a source but i have heard that a lot of the European countries have large corporate funding for the development of alpine athletes. The cost is probably one of the highest barriers here in Canada. The young kids are even upwards of $10,000 (equipment, coaching, lift passes etc)a year before they start to get serious. It wouldn't surprise me in the least that older kids are pushing above $20,000 a year. This probably doesn't even include travel costs (driving, food, hotels if needed) every weekend.

I know in snowboarding and have to imagine in skiing, that qualified ASA amateur competitors, have their lift passes, covered nationally with the CanWest pass, via CWSAA. Often when they travel internationally, (WC/NORAM etc), there are reciprocal agreements with comp'd tickets as well.

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

The figure is a guess that I drew from destination maps published on the internet, and my own recollections, so I readily admit that it is possibly low. In fact, according to Wikipedia there are 62 ski areas spread between Alberta and BC, but I am sceptical regarding how many of those remain in regular operation with places listed like Fortress, and the Coulee slopes like in Fairview or Drumheller.

In any event, the number still pales in comparison to the facilities in Austria, which is a veritable, gigantic ski area nation-state.

A fair number of Austria's resorts are probably rink-a-dink size too.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

A fair number of Austria's resorts are probably rink-a-dink size too.

In what sense, though? Unlike many of Western Canada's tiny slopes which dot the prairies, the entire nation of Austria comprises the Alps. Even still, the numbers are not even close.