Some suggestions on revising the Olympic bidding regulations were passed, and the Olympic Charter was also revised accordingly. The Olympic movement ushered in another major reform!
Xinhua News Agency, Lausanne, June 26th question: can the great reform of Olympic bidding procedures avoid “too many losers”?
Xinhua News Agency reporter Ji Ye Prince Jiang Gaopeng
The future Olympic Games can be jointly held by multiple cities and even countries (regions), and it is not necessary to determine the host site seven years in advance, the newly established committee has the strong power to recommend the venue, and the voting of the final candidate venue may have only one option……
At the 134th plenary session of the International Olympic Committee held in Lausanne, “Olympic capital”, several suggestions on amending the Olympic bidding regulations were passed, and the Olympic Charter was also revised accordingly, the Olympic movement ushered in another major change!
In the process of the hosting cities of the two Olympic Games in 2024 and 2028, Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee, once said that the Olympic bidding process “created too many losers”. Nowadays, the bidding process after innovation is more flexible, but there are still many uncertainties. Whether “too many losers” can be avoided remains to be seen.
Over the past few years, there have been problems such as withdrawing from the bidding cities of the Olympic Games. The International Olympic Committee has also been trying to make the bidding more flexible, frugal and sustainable. In 2017, for the first time in the history of the International Olympic Committee, the host city of two consecutive Olympic Games was decided at the same time. In 2024 and 2028, the Summer Olympics will fall in Paris and Los Angeles. In the bidding process of the 2026 Winter Olympics just ended, whether it was Italy who won or Sweden who lost, the bid budget was more than 75% lower than that of the 2018 and 2022 Winter Olympics.
After fully foreshadowing, the International Olympic Committee has now announced the fundamental reform of the bidding procedure. The most important contents include :
first, in the future, “Summer Olympic Games host committee” (10 people) and “Winter Olympic Games host committee” (8 people) will be established respectively, with relatively fixed members, to replace the current “Evaluation Committee”. The “host committee” maintains close communication and dialogue with the Olympic committee of potential cities, regions, countries and relevant countries (regions) to help them analyze the role of the Olympics in local development, at the same time, it is responsible for recommending multiple or single candidate locations to the IOC executive committee. In order to get the favor of the committee, the bidding place must be firmly supported by the government and the public.
The power of the “host committee” can be seen. The committee will include the International Olympic Committee, athletes, the International Federation of individual sports, the National (regional) Olympic Committee, the International Paralympic Games and representatives from all continents.
In the free discussion session of the plenary session, Daniel gyultao, a member of the International Olympic Committee from Hungary, pointed out that how and when the members of the committee with great power came into being were not clearly publicized at present.
Dick Pound, 77-year-old member of the International Olympic Committee and former chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency, is outspoken. In the face of such great interests of the Olympic Games, members of the “host committee” may “secret meetings” with potential bidding places “.
In addition, although the IOC emphasizes that the voting right to decide the venue is still in the hands of all IOC members, as Bach said, there may be only one candidate venue in the future. In this way, although the plenary session has the final voting rights, the power is still reduced due to the unique option.
Second, the future Olympic Games do not have to determine the venue seven years in advance. The IOC executive committee will formulate a special strategic framework for each Olympic Games bid time. In fact, this flexibility of time is reflected in Los Angeles’s 11-year advance of hosting of the Olympic Games 2028.
Australian Coates, the head of the working group on the revision of the Olympic bidding regulations, said that the situation of granting two hosting of the Olympic Games at the same time in the future may still occur.
Third, the future Olympic Games are no longer limited to one city, and can be held jointly by multiple cities or even countries (regions). This trend has already been reflected, especially in the Winter Olympics. The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics will be held in three regions, and the 2026 Winter Olympics will also be held in Milan/Cortina Pezo, Italy, and some small cities between them.
The IOC encourages more use of existing or temporary venues. The proportion of existing venues and temporary venues planned and used by Milan/Cortina danpezo is as high as 93%. However, in order to use these venues, it is likely to cause the competition area to be relatively scattered. Isinbayeva, the “queen” of the Russian pole vault, worried that it would turn the Olympic Games into a single world championship. “letting athletes together is the unique feature of the Olympics”. In addition, the dispersion of competition areas will also cause higher transportation costs.
Although there are still many uncertainties about this major change, when Bach submitted these amendment proposals to the General Assembly for collective voting, all the members present raised their hands to agree, and no one opposed them. As Bach said, the Olympic movement must keep pace with the rapid changes in today’s world. Flexibility is a necessary condition to ensure good governance and the sustainable development of the future Olympic Games.
From the perspective of history, several changes of the International Olympic Committee have actively promoted the development of the Olympic movement. Shortly after Bach came to power in 2013, he threw out the declaration of reform, “Olympic 2020 Agenda”, “new norms” and the current reform of bidding procedures. The Olympic movement is actively seeking for reform. The time will give the answer to the result.
