Salzburg bemoans loss of 2014 Games and Olympic values

By Ivonne Marschall Jul 5, 2007, 10:59 GMT

Vienna - The bitter disappointment among Salzburg's sports functionaries over the loss of the 2014 Olympic bid is mixed with accusations that big money won out over the Olympic ideals.

'I am very disappointed ... But obviously this time again there were people involved who have no clue about winter sports,' Heinz Jungwirth, secretary general of Austria's Olympic Committee, said after the vote for the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi.

'If one knows what happens behind the scenes then we are proud that we don't need that. We rather fail in peace. That was clearly a bid of money.'

For Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer, who failed to charm the IOC voters in Guatemala City, it was clear that 'Olympic values' lost this time round.

The Austrian city, which already failed in its bid to win the Winter Games in 2010, hoped until the last second that its small-budget bid, centred on alpine atmosphere and sporting passion would win out against flamboyant Sochi and Pyeonchang.

Local residents, who for the majority were sceptical over that whole Olympic effort, agreed with Austrian ski legend and bid figurehead Franz Klammer that the IOC sold out to the big markets.

'Everything that had tradition and values was not worth anything,' he said.

However, for everyone with a realistic eye on the bids, Salzburg's failure did not come as a surprise. The shoestring-budget bid, coupled with the impact of Austria's mishandling of the 2006 Turin doping affair, damaged Salzburg's chances beyond recognition.

Analysts agreed that, despite insistence to the contrary by Austrian officials, Salzburg failed both because of Austria's arrogance in dealing with the IOC's complaints and the interest of businesses in new markets to invest.

'It was very naive to believe one could succeed in a globalized sports economy with something like the Olympic idea alone,' the liberal Vienna newspaper Der Standard wrote.

The conservative Presse added that in Guatemala City, Austria was regarded as an 'anachronism', still believing that the bid was what counted for being awarded the games.

'Is there actually a vote in Guatemala or is it just the auction hammer?' the paper asked.

For ordinary Austrians, feelings are mixed. Despite obvious disappointment and criticism against all the usual suspects - the IOC, the Austrian functionaries or the politicians supporting the bid - there are also those who are secretly relieved.

Those who believed the Games bid was a colossal waste of money, paired with security concerns and leading to ever more crowds on Austria's already over-populated ski slopes now extend their warmest congratulations to Sochi and expect Austria's athletes to slay the competition Russia in 2014.