Reason behind Asian countries consecutively host Winter Olympics

Reason behind Asian countries consecutively host Winter Olympics. July. 08, 2017 07:11. by Heon-Jae Lee uni@donga.com.

Pyeongchang was selected to host the Winter Olympic Games in its third bid. However, things have changed in just a few years. Cities are increasingly reluctant to host the Winter Olympic Games.

Money is the major cause of their hesitation and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is also sensing the crisis as cities are under extreme financial pressure after hosting Olympic games. The 2022 Winter Games Olympics in Beijing, the next game after the Pyeongchang Olympics, are a major example. After Oslo dropped the bid at the moment, only two candidates—Beijing and Almaty (Kazakhstan)—were left. That is why Asian countries were selected to host two Winter Olympics consecutively.

The IOC laid out "Olympic Agenda 2020" to ease a burden of host cities. According to Agenda 2020, the IOC allows them to utilize existing facilities as much as possible and to jointly host the Olympics with other country or city.

The city of Calgary in Canada, a candidate to host the 2026 Winter Games, established the Olympic bid exploration committee to conduct a feasibility study as a preparation for the bid.

“Money does matter. We will not participate in the bid, if we fail to persuade people of Calgary and Alberta," said Brian Hahn, general manager of the committee. Potential candidates for the 2026 Winter Olympics are Sion (Swiss), Lillehammer (Norway), Stockholm (Sweden). However, cities are not trying to host the Olympics with massive expenses.