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| ARCHIVE – 2014 Olympic Winter Bid – Sochi |
The 2014 Olympic Winter Games bid election was held July 4, 2007 at the 119th IOC session in Guatemala City, Guatemala and was won by Sochi, Russia after defeating PyeongChang, South Korea on the second ballot and Salzburg Austria on the first. It was possibly the tightest Olympic bid election in history – and on the heels of an over-exuberant 2012 election where the bids took notes – the cities pulled out every stop and campaigned with high-profile dignitaries and lavish presentations. It was the first election where the national leaders for each bid presented.
Other applicants that didn’t make the short list were Almaty Kazakhstan, Borjomi Georgia, Jaca Spain and Sofia Bulgaria. Almaty narrowly missed the cut after straddling the benchmark they need to pass to automatically qulaify. The IOC executive committee voted to exclude the bid from the list of finalists.
The campaigning was fierce and millions of dollars were spent. Salzburg was considered an early leader in the race but faced many obstacles including questionable leadership, an Austrian athletes doping scandal, the IOC questionning bid fundamentals such as accomodations and most damaging – a low show of public support in an official IOC poll. By the time the election came, Salzburg was considered an outsider.
PyeongChang remained a strong contender throughout the race by leveraging the goodwill gained by favorable results in the 2010 bid election narrowly lost to Vancouver, and by fulfilling many of the promises made during that same campaign in order to gain the trust of IOC members. A spectacular venue concept that was already under construction was the marquee element of the bid.
But while Salburg and PyeongChang were developing their second consecutive bid, relative newcomer Sochi was mounting its first campaign and pulled out every stop by proposing a spectacular venue concept in a sub tropical Black Sea setting. The only problem – it was only a plan, very little of it actually existed. Sochi bidders tackled this hurdle by putting together one of the most aggressive internation public relations campaigns ever seen for an Olympic bid. Using some of the same PR teams that won the 2012 Games for London – the bid did some serious marketing. They recruited prominent Olympic athletes who spread their message during events internationally, and in Guatemala at the final vote – they transported a full-size skating rink in the world’s largest airplane – to put on a skating show. To seal the victory, Russian President Vladamir Putin delivered a final presentation speach to the delegates, speaking in English publicly for the first time.
Salzburg officials balked at the over-spending and extravagance and instead stuck to the fundamentals. They portrayed a modern but traditional Games concept but it seemed the IOC members didn’t buy it, instead getting swept-up in the PR blitzes of the other two bids.
Just like in the 2010 bid, PyeongChang won the first ballot but couldn’t hold on and was narrowly defeated by Sochi in the second ballot by only 4 votes.
| 2014 Bid City Profiles and Documents | Select city for information, official Web sites, bid books, forums and more… | |||
| 2014 Bid Logos | ||||
Missed Short List
| Voting Results | ||
| city | 1st round |
2nd round |
| Sochi | 34 | 51 |
| PyeongChang | 36 | 47 |
| Salzburg | 25 |
| 2014 Bid Timeline | Dates set by bid committees and IOC | |||
| April 17, 2004 | Bulgaria NOC nominates Sofia for 2014 bid. |
| Dec. 30, 2004 | South Korea NOC nominates PyeongChang over Muju for 2014 bid. |
| Jan. 24, 2005 | Austria NOC nominates Salzburg over Innsbruck for 2014 bid. |
| May, 2005 | IOC sends invitation to bid for 2014 Games to NOC’s and makes Candidature Acceptance Procedure and Questionnaire available. |
| June 22, 2005 | Georgia Olympic Committee announces bid for 2014 Games. |
| July 14, 2005 | Russian Olympic Committee announces Sochi’s bid for 2014 Games. |
| July 20, 2005 | Spanish Olympic Committee announces Jaca’s bid for 2014 Games. |
| July 21, 2004 | Kazakhstan Olympic Committee announces bid for 2014 bid from Almaty. |
| July 28, 2005 | Deadline for NOC’s to nominate and submit application for bid cities. |
| August 16, 2005 | Deadline for bids to submit signed Candidature Acceptance Procedure and application fee (USD$150,000). |
| Sept., 2005 | IOC seminar for applicant cities. |
| Feb. 1, 2006 | Deadline for applicants to submit questionnaires. |
| June 22, 2006 | IOC selects PyeongChang, Salzburg and Sochi to short list of 2014 candidates. |
| June 23, 2006 | Candidature Procedures and Bid Book questionnaire to be distributed to short listed candidates. |
| July 10, 2006 | Signed Candidature Procedures and candidate fees due to IOC. |
| January 10, 2007 | Candidature File (bid books) due to IOC. |
| February 14-17, 2007 | IOC evaluation visit to PyeongChang. |
| February 20-23, 2007 | IOC evaluation visit to Sochi. |
| March 14-17, 2007 | IOC evaluation site visit to Salzburg. |
| One month prior to election | IOC releases evaluation report. |
| July 4, 2007 | Election of 2014 host city in Guatemala City. Sochi wins. |
| 2014 IOC Evalution Commission | Set By IOC on Spetember 4, 2006 | |||
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Name
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Function
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Mr Chiharu IGAYA
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Chairman, IOC Vice-President
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Mr Gilbert FELLI
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IOC Olympic Games Executive Director
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Mr Kai HOLM
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IOC Member
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H.R.H. The Prince of Orange
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IOC Member
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Mr Walther TRÖGER (Resigned – conflict of interest)
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IOC Member
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Ms Rebecca SCOTT
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IOC Member, Athlete Representative
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Mr Dwight BELL
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NOC Representative
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Mr Jan-Ake EDVINSSON
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IF Representative
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Mr Miguel SAGARRA
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IPC Representative
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Mr Luciano BARRA (Resigned)
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Former OCOG Representative
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Mr Rémy CHARMETANT
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Former OCOG Representative
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Mr Oskar FISCHER (Resigned – conflict of interest)
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International Ski Federation
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Mr Jose Luis MARCÓ
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Legal Aspects
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Mr Simon BALDERSTONE
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Environmental Aspects
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Prof. Philippe BOVY
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Transport Aspects
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Ms Jacqueline BARRETT
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IOC Head of Bid City Relations
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Mrs Sophie SKEELS
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IOC Bid City Relations
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Miss Helen STEWART
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IOC Bid City Relations
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| 2014 Applicants Missing Short List | Cut By IOC on June 22, 2006 | |||
Almaty, Kazakhstan
Borjomi, Georgia
Jaca, Spain
Sofia, Bulgaria
| 2014 Withdrawn Bids | Had been in planning stages | |||
Andorra la Vella, Andorra – (Was under review, missed 2010 short-list)
Grenoble, France – (Mayor Declared February 26, 2002)
Harbin, China – (Announced plans to re-bid on November 1, 2002 – after 2010 elimination)
Innsbruck, Austria – Lost national nomination to Salzburg January 23, 2005
Munich, Germany – (Reported Feb. 18, 2005)
Östersund and Åre, Sweden – Withdrawn after government funding failed
Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina – (Media reports, it would be 30th anniversay of 1984 Games in Sarajevo)
Tromsoe, Norway – (According to January 18, 2005 report.)
Turkey – (Announced by Tourism Minister July 14, 2005)
Zurich, Switzerland – (Zurich withdrew bid Sept. 14 2004 after Swiss NOC nominated Zurich over Davos March 29, 2004)
| ARCHIVE – 2012 Olympic Bid – London |
The 2012 bid culminated at the election held on July 6, 2005 at the IOC session in Singapore. It was considered the best contested race in Olympic bid history and included five world capitals: London, Madrid, Moscow, New York and Paris.
The bid committees brought high-profile delegates including politicians and celebrities. World leaders included British PM Tony Blair, French President Jacques Chirac and Russian President Vladimir Putin and among other dignitaries were Hilary Clinton and David Beckham. A record number of media personnel and delgates attended.
While most considered Paris the frontrunner, last minute and aggressive marketing tactics by London helped push the British city to a narrow four vote victory. Madrid came third, New York fourth and Moscow fifth.
The key to London’s victory was the appointment of sportsman Seb Coe to lead the bid and businessman Keith Mills to market it internationally. Although the bid was slapped on the wrist by the IOC for being a bit too aggressive at times – the strategy paid off.
Paris and Madrid mounted excellent campaigns but fell short at the end. New York designed their bid around a yet-to-be-approved new Olympic Stadium in Manhattan’s West Side but approval was denied just days before the bid forcing organizers to scramble and come up with plan B, a less desireable Queens location for the stadium.
Moscow was an outsider from the beginning and failed to impress.
| 2012 Bid Logos | ||||
| 2012 Bid City Profiles and Documents | ||
| Voting Results | ||
| city | 1st round |
2nd round |
3rd round |
4th round |
| London | 22 | 27 | 39 | 54 |
| Paris | 21 | 25 | 33 | 50 |
| Madrid | 20 | 32 | 31 | |
| New York | 19 | 16 | ||
| Moscow | 15 |
| Timeline | ||
- November 2, 2002 – United States Olympic Committee elects its 2012 candidate (New York)
- January 21, 2003 – Spanish Olympic Committee elects its 2012 candidate
- February 27, 2003 – French officials meet to decide Paris’ intentions for 2012
- April 12, 2003 – German Olympic Committee elects its 2012 candidate
- May, 2003 – IOC to send circular to NOC’s inviting them to submit the name of an applicant city.
- July 7th, 2003 – Brazil Olympic Committee to elect 2012 candidate, Rio De Janeiro or São Paulo.
- July 15th, 2003 – NOC’s to inform the IOC of the name of an applicant city (by letter)
- August 30th, 2003 – USD $150,000 fees due from applicant cities
- October 7 to 10, 2003 – IOC Applicant City Seminar in Lausanne
- November 21-22, 2003 – Bids to visit Athens for 2004 organization update
- January 15th, 2004 – Applicant Cities to reply to IOC questionnaire
- January 15th to June 2004 – Examination of replies by IOC and experts
- May 18, 2004 – Acceptance of short-listed candidate cities by the IOC executive board
- August, 2004 – Candidate City Observer Programme at the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad in Athens
- November 15th, 2004 – Candidature files submitted to IOC
- February 3 to March 17, 2005 – Visits of the IOC evaluation committee to the Candidate Cities
- Madrid: February 3 to 6
- London: February 16 to 19
- New York: February 21 to 24
- Paris: March 9 to 12
- Moscow: March 14 to 17
- June 6, 2005 – Evaluation commission report
- July 6, 2005 – Election of the 2012 host city by the IOC session in Singapore.
| Evaluation Commission | ||
The Evaluation Commission was appointed on July 27, 2004. The team will analyze the candidature files that the five candidate cities will submit on November 15, 2004 and will make inspections on site before issuing a report in May 2005.
- Chairperson: Mrs Nawal EL MOUTAWAKEL (MAR)
- IOC representatives: Mrs Els van BREDA VRIESMAN (NED), Mr Paul HENDERSON (CAN), Mr Patrick JARVIS (CAN), Mr Mustapha LARFAOUI (ALG), Mr José Luis MARCO (ARG), Mr Ser Miang NG (SIN), Mr Sam RAMSAMY (RSA)
- Experts: Mr Simon BALDERSTONE (AUS), Mr Philippe BOVY (SUI), Mr Bob ELPHINSTON (AUS)
Visits of the IOC evaluation committee to the Candidate Cities
- Madrid: February 3 to 6
- London: February 16 to 19
- New York: February 21 to 24
- Paris: March 9 to 12
- Moscow: March 14 to 17
| ARCHIVE – 2010 Olympic Bid – Vancouver |
The 2010 Olympic Bid culminated July 2, 2003 at the 115th IOC session in Prague. Czech Republic. The campaign began with a list of eight bids that was trimmed to four after the initial evaluation. Berne was forced to withdraw after losing a local support referendum. Vancouver held its own referendum but was successful and three bids – PyeongChang, Salzburg and Vancouver went into the final vote.
It was perceived that Salzburg and Vancouver had the best bids and PyeongChang was further behind, however geopolitics created surprises on voting day when Salzburg fell off the first ballot after getting only 16 votes. The speculation was that voters did not want the Games in Europe in 2010, they wanted a summer European Games in 2012 instead.
An even bigger surprise was PyeongChang’s strong showing, winning the first ballot and only three votes short of clinching it. However Vancouver picked up most of Salzburg’s votes from the first round and narrowly won by three votes in the final round. PyeongChang had been lobbying very aggressively in the closing days of the campaign.
| 2012 Bid Logos | ||||
| 2010 Bid City Profiles and Documents | ||
| Voting Results | ||
| city | 1st round |
2nd round |
| Vancouver | 40 | 56 |
| PyeongChang | 51 | 53 |
| Salzburg | 16 |
| Timeline | ||
- February 4, 2002 – Deadline for NOC’s to submit bid city applications to IOC
- May 31, 2002 – Deadline for applicant city questionnaires (a ‘bid book executive summary’ used to help short-list applicants). Cities must submit 50 copies in English and French along with US$100,000.
- August 28, 2002 – IOC will announce short-list of candidates, those who meet minimum requirements and become official candidate cities
- September 9-14, 2002 – Meetings between candidate cities and IOC in Lausanne to discuss phase 2 of the Bid Process, Rules and Procedures.
- October 31, 2002 – $500,000 fee due to IOC from short-listed candidate cities.
- January 10, 2003 – Deadline for candidate cities to deliver complete bid book to IOC
- January 10, 2003 – International marketing campaigns may begin
- February 22, 2003 – Vancouver Plebiscite
- February 14 to March 16, 2003 – IOC evaluation commission to visit candidate cities.
- Pyeongchang: February 14 to 17
- Vancouver: March 2 to 5
- Salzburg: March 13 to 16
- May 2, 2003 – IOC evaluation commission issues report on candidate cities to IOC executive board.
- TBA – IOC Executive Board designates which Cities will be submitted for the election (i.e. final short-list)
- July 2, 2003 – In Prague, IOC to vote on 2010 host city. 115th IOC Sesion.
| Evaluation Commission | ||
The Evaluation Commission was appointed on October 24, 2002. The team analysed the candidature files that the three candidate cities submitted January 2003 and made inspections on site before issuing a report in May 2003.
- Chairman: Mr Gerhard HEIBERG (NOR)
- Executive Director: Mr Gilbert FELLI (SUI)
- IOC representatives: Mr Chiharu IGAYA (JPN), Mr Peter TALLBERG (FIN), H.R.H. The Prince of ORANGE (NED)
- IF representatives: Mr Oskar FISCHER (GER) FIS, Mr Roy SINCLAIR (GBR) WCF
- NOC representatives: Mr Tsunekazu TAKEDA (JPN), Mr José Luis MARCO (ARG)
- Athletes’ representative: Ms Pernilla WIBERG (SWE)
- Experts: Mr Olav MYRHOLT (NOR) Environment, Mr Grant THOMAS (USA) Former OCOG, Mr Rémy CHARMETANT (FRA) Former OCOG, Mr Rick LUDWIG (USA) Finance
- IPC representative: Ms Rita VAN DRIEL (NED)
| ARCHIVE – 2008 Olympic Bid – Beijing |
The 2008 Olympic Bid culminated July 13, 2001 at the 112th IOC session in Moscow. The campaign was controversial, especially for Beijing which was a heavy early favourite but the object of criticism due to human rights violations and pollution. The one-sidedness of the final vote did not fairly represent the relative quality of the bids, raising further suspicion on the IOC.
| 2008 Bid City Profiles and Documents | ||
| Voting Results | ||
| city | 1st round |
2nd round |
| Beijing | 44 | 56 |
| Toronto | 20 | 22 |
| Paris | 15 | 18 |
| Istanbul | 17 | 9 |
| Osaka | 6 |
| Timeline | ||
| 2000 | Feb. 1 | Earliest date that 2008 bid cities can promote bid (IOC 2000 Recommendation) Official bid letter to be sent to IOC |
| June 20 | Bid City questionnaires due to IOC | |
| August 28,29 | IOC Announces Candidates to Host 2008 Games | |
| 2001 | January 17 | Bid books get sent to IOC |
| February 21-24 | IOC Evaluation Commission travels to Beijing | |
| Feb. 26 – Mar. 1 | IOC Evaluation Commission travels to Osaka | |
| March 8-11 | IOC Evaluation Commission travels to Toronto | |
| March 21-24 | IOC Evaluation Commission travels to Istanbul | |
| Mar. 26-29 | IOC Evaluation Commission travels to Paris | |
| May | Evaluation reports published for the public | |
| July 9-11 | IOC Executive Board, Moscow, Russia | |
| July 13-16 | 112th IOC Session, Moscow, Russia | |
| July 13 | Selection of 2008 Host City |