Bidding for the 2030 and the 2034 Winter Olympics is open, with usual suspects Vancouver, Sapporo and Salt Lake City being mentioned. But going to one of the usual places does not allow the Olympics to branch out and attract new fans.
So why not bring the Winter Olympics to Australia?
Australia has competed in Winter Olympics since 1932 and at every Games consecutively since 1952. We’ve won lots of medals (16 at time of writing), we’ve had world-class athletes at the top of their game (Steven Bradbury and Dale Begg-Smith come to mind) and, more than that, we’ve got recent form.
Steven Bradbury shows off his gold medal during the Team Australia Press Conference at the Main Media Center during the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. (John Gichigi/Getty Images)
Imagine Jakara Anthony skiing down the slopes of Mount Kosciuszko with a parochial home crowd cheering her on to her fourth gold medal in the moguls.
Australia has tall mountains with snow on them, at least some of the time. Skiers and snowboarders frequent Perisher Valley, Thredbo and Falls Creek. Each of these locations, and others like Mt Hotham and Mt Buller, can take care of the outdoor events.
We may need to enlist the help of New Zealand and their extra four medals but I’ve heard great things about skiing Whakatane and Queenstown. What could possibly go wrong?
Australia also has Olympic infrastructure already in place. By the time 2030 rolls around, the redevelopment of Sydney Olympic Park would be completed. If Beijing can turn its swimming pool to ice, then what’s stopping us? It’s just a few freezers and a few million dollars.
Sure, we might have to create a new athletes’ village but with housing prices as high as they are now, the organisers will command a decent sum for the village once the Games are over.
It’s an issue that we don’t have days that are terribly conducive to snow-making in February. So imagine an Australasian Olympics in July with locations at Olympic Park, Perisher, Thredbo, Mt Buller, Queenstown, Whakatane and maybe one or two others. How good would that be?
It can’t hurt to have a few backup venues in and around New Zealand just in case July is still too warm.
In the ultra-worst-case scenario, I hear that scientists have identified the perfect spot for the Olympic village in Antarctica. With venues as good as these, I’m sure that both Sydney Olympics (maybe we call it the Australasian Olympics) in 2000 and 2030 or ’34 will be crowned as the greatest ever.
Logistical and promotional issues are easily solved. Tennis Australia proved you can get people into the country (save for one minor hiccup) and host a successful tournament, so why can’t the Australian Olympic Committee do the same? I’m sure the only major stumbling block by that time would be whether or not New Zealand and Western Australia have opened their borders.
As for promotion, having the Summer Games in Brisbane in 2032 is the perfect opportunity to either reflect on the Games that was or to preview the upcoming Winter Games.
So, bring the games Down Under! We deserve a crack. Make a few concessions, play them at a different time and put up with some rather wet snow, and Australia would have its largest-ever Winter Olympics team.
It matters little if our guys are no good in ski jumping or Nordic Combined or cross-country skiing. With our largest team, we’re bound to bring home our biggest medal haul.
Let the home(s) of pavs, Russell Crowe, sheep and Phar Lap (one of the fastest speed skaters of all time) host the Olympics.
Australasia 2030/34! It has a ring (or five) to it.
Republican
Guest
.......more importantly there will be no snow, fast train or no fast train.
Republican
Guest
Nah. Canberra is balmy these days. I grew up in the nations capital and we would X country Ski in the Brindabella's throughout good seasons in Winter, from Bulls Head along the four wheel drive road that defines the ACT, NSW border as well as the Mt Franklin run, in the 70's through late 80s. Snow rarely falls on the Brinda's these days. The rising snow line first became obvious from the early 90's. This has risen dramatically compared to the 1960s when I first started skiing, while the sport is prohibitively expensive and unreliable in terms of snow fall. This is why resorts i.e. Thredbo continue to transition from Winter sports to walking and mountain biking, as the cost of making snow becomes financially unsustainable. Down Hill skiing will cease to be in my life time, of that I have little doubt.
Republican
Guest
Due to the Volcanic surface you require a min of around 200cm to open while it's as unreliable as any resort in Australasia. Being further north, it attracts a warmer and damper air mass so snow is fickle in the north island. The NZ hard sell is just that but then its great for an exotic backdrop. NZ is a fab movie set but we all know movies are mostly fictitious.
Ruapehu is the best
Guest
Go skiing in Ruapehu on the north island. It's much better
Golden army
Guest
Yanqing is under 100km from downtown Beijing. You mean Zhangjiakou... Which is 45 minutes by bullet train. In any event, Canberra would be hopeless. It's a solid 2.5hr drive to perisher, and we all know that no fast train is going to be built
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Wouldn't you be in favour of them hosting , the Winter Olympics would bankrupt the country easily, and then with the NZ dollar crashing in value but with the ski fields remarkbly improved and with an excess of accomodation . It would make NZ ski holidays incredibly cheap, though end effect you would end up with another quarter of the population moving to Australia.
Canberra Pear
Roar Rookie
Canberra would make sense for an Australian host. It's closer to Perisher than Beijing is to the Yanqing skiing facilities. Within a half-hour drive, it has snowfields, mountains and former ski lodges that could be rebuilt.
Republican
Guest
In all seriousness, I listened to a programme a week ago on the future of the Winter Olympics looking bleak to say the least. Winter sports are already unsustainable due to the runway train i.e. Climate Change. This is acutely evident in colder climates, while Oz & NZ, hardly Winter destinations in a global context, are unlikely to survive the next decade in this respect. Dubai offers us a window into a synthetic snow experience on unsustainable and indulgent scale, already evident in Australia & NZ et al, where snow guns supplement natural snow more and more with the passing seasons. RIP 'Winter' in both Oz & NZ.
Republican
Guest
Rubbish. NZ snow conditions are overrated despite a dramatic topography. Ive skied in NZ and its as unreliable as Oz in many respects and far more difficult to access resorts. If you get out the back for some heli skiing, then thats pretty good. Japan is infinitely superior to NZ.
Golden army
Guest
I'd love to see the Winter Olympics in Queenstown. They'd actually have the climate to get it done properly. The only problem is that the Winter Olympics comfortably outstrip the Summer Olympics in terms of truly prodigious wastes of money. With the exception of an ice rink, and alpine events, I cannot think of a single winter sport that doesn't require the construction of something artificial, and goes practically unused forever after...and with the expansion of all the freestyle sports, it's only getting worse. Speed skating is one of the most absurd wastes of money. You have to build a stadium with a similar footprint to an athletics track...and make it an indoor building, meaning you can only have about 10000 seats at most. Incredibly expensive. Skijumping, Big Air. What a travesty of a waste of money these sports are in Olympic host cities. The bobsled/luge/skeleton tracks - are generally the first thing to become white elephants after every winter olympics. The only thing that gets continued use (generally because it is a pre-existing venue) is the rink for icehockey/ice dancing. Winter Olympics should be held in rotation between three cities: Calgary, Nagano and Innsbruck. That way the games can rotate between Americas, Asia and Europe for timezones, and each city has hosted the games so existing infrastructure can be repackaged and repurposed and most importantly - particularly for Nagano - they get bucketloads of natural snow.
Gibbo
Roar Pro
Ah yes indeed. I knew it was Whaka-something. Plus, wasn’t Benji known for his prowess in the snow? :laughing: I’ll stop there before I get kicked off this board.
David Holden
Roar Guru
Before a Kiwi jumps in, think you may mean Whakapapa rather than Whakatane. One's a skifield...the other is the home of Benji Marshall. Fun article though...we just need curling to become a national sport
Gary
Roar Rookie
Lol. That was the first thing that came to mind. Can't help but think what a waste in infrastructure spend for a warming planet... just keep it in existing cold climate areas.
JGK
Roar Guru
Roy and HG we’re calling for this 20 years ago. Smiggins Holes 2030? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smiggin_Holes_2010_Winter_Olympic_bid