NZ | 2018/2022 Winter Olympic's Bid | Proposed

[metroman]

Why don't they make an ice skating rink at the Bromley ponds?

[Marky Mark]

You were trying to avoid Nanas Free Scones followed by a spanking weren't you ? Well I don't blame you

Originally Posted by ShakeyNZ

*the* Mt. haha
Maunganui

[KIWIKAAS]

Maybe ''the Mt'' could do a bid?

Cross country pentathalon on White Island?

[QinBriz]

Hi....

I am a huge fan of the WInter Olympics being hosted in Queenstown. Your invited to join a facebook supporters group called “Queenstown, New Zealand Winter Olympics 2018 Supporters Group” Check it out.

Ideally the major venues would be clustered close to the town and the lake. I know there is not a lot of land but I have spotted a good place. I am sure if QLDC, Ngai Tahu and the government got together then the site could be secured.

People have said Queenstown couldn’t do it. Well I totally agree. Smaller towns have pulled it off. What it takes is support from the key stake holders and then it cold be successful.

My plan would be to cluster the 5 new indoor venues (Short track, Long track, Curling, Ice Hockey & figure skating) together on this site with the athletes village immediately adjacent. Other new construction would be temporary training facilities, media centre, new transport networks and obvious on mountain improvements.

It will be fantastic when it happens.

There is an amazing legacy that these games will leave for Queenstown. Firstly the permanent venues that are constructed will mean there is finally a world class training and competition venue for the off season. Top winter athletes will be based in NZ during the northern summer. Also the facilities and infrastructure upgrades will provide the backbone of the development the fast growing Q-Lakes district needs. I also see some of the athletes accommodation becoming affordable worker accommodation. This would be a big plus to a community desperately short of this type of accommodation. There are plenty of other big benefits too.

I see a couple of challenges to be met.

Firstly is NZs relative weakness in the international Winter Sport arena. This will reduce the ability to get the bid successful and also the success of the games in NZ. If this is to happen money needs to be put into winter sport to ensure NZ has a credible team in 2018/2022. The second and bigger hurdle is the RMA. For the olympics to occur special legislation is going to be needed to super speed the RMA, perhaps getting all the issues out in the open and dealing with them in a single hearing of the environment court. A big ask but the current process would mean nothing would be built. These and other challenges can be over come and I know NZ would get behind a Winter Olympics in Queenstown.

Looking forward to your support on the facebook campaign I am coordinating.

Cheers Quintin

[metroman]

I am certainly in favour of anything positive which will promote New Zealand on the international stage. However a lot is going to depend on how successful we stage the Rugby World Cup and how much support this bid will get. My view is that 2018 is far too early and that it maybe better to attract major winter sporting events over the next decade or two. Sports like speed skating, ice hockey and bobsleeding etc are relatively foreign to New Zealand. While we certainly have the ideal landscape and climate for these sports these are activities which are relatively new to us. Until the Winter Olympics can feature on the Kiwi pysche in the same way the summer olympics and America's Cup do this bid will struggle to get the suitable support it deserves.

[QinBriz]

The Winter Games planned to be held in Queenstown/Wanaka on a regular basis will be great way to test NZ's skills at hosting winter events plus hopefully it will boost winter sports in New Zealand. I agree that 2018 is probably too early but 2022 would be OK. There needs to be some strategic work now to plan for this. Like securing sites for construction of the major indoor facilities and developing proposals to enhance the queenstown skifields and plan for a future ski jump and luge track. All this will take some time to plan and construct, btu will be a huge benefit to the region and NZ.

[Davee]

So.......could it possibly be 2022????

[Snorky33]

It should be a Christchurch/Queenstown bid Christchurch being a city with a major international airport (resent major expanision a big plus) should host all those big indoor venue sports e.g. ice hockey, ice skating & speed skating while Queenstown hosts all the alpine events e.g. skiing, nordic, bobsleigh & freestyle plus the ski jump, Treble cone in Wanaka can host the downhill & super G. Sure NZ putting in an official bid for the Winter Olympics is at least 15-20 years away because natually it's going to take that many years to build all of the infrastructure but it's off to a positive start with it's NZ Winter Games that event can be built on over time...and just 1 final point the opening in Christchurch but with the Olympic flame lit in Queenstown the cauldron set high up on the Remarkables mountains overlooking Queenstown...what a sight and thoses pictures going around the world, and naturally the closing in Queenstown NZ don't waste your time with the Comm Games they're now a non event focus all your attention on the Winter Olympics, look NZ you may never be able to host a summer games like Australia can but you can hold a winter games, which natually is something that Australia will never have Think 2018/2022 is too soon NZ should aim for the 2026/2030 games

[NapierMan]

You are all DREAMERS!!!
There is not inferstructure to support this!!!! The Olympic comitee will have to be stupid to select NZ in its current state..and i dont see it changing in the near future.

[Snorky33]

Originally Posted by KIWIKAAS

Another BIG problem.
NZ dosent have a decent downhill course.
The one at Mt Hutt is a joke (with long traverses required to get the distance) and certainly not in the top league (as required). A totally new location has to be found. I selected a spot for the Downhill and GS on my little map but it really remains to be seen where it could be held. They need to find a bloody high mountain and build good access there (the Downhill is one of the biggest events of the games).

Treble Cone, Wanaka

[Davee]

Mr KF - could we put this thread with all the other general NZ topic threads so it is more accesable to anyone who visits Kiwiscrapers

[Davee]

Originally Posted by NapierMan

You are all DREAMERS!!!
There is not inferstructure to support this!!!! The Olympic comitee will have to be stupid to select NZ in its current state..and i dont see it changing in the near future.

Welcome NapierMan - thanks for the positive input!

DREAMING is our SPECIALITY

[Cartel]

Originally Posted by NapierMan

You are all DREAMERS!!!
There is not inferstructure to support this!!!! The Olympic comitee will have to be stupid to select NZ in its current state..and i dont see it changing in the near future.

If people didn't have dreams, great things would never be achieved now would they.

[IHaveNoLegs]

A NZ bid? I thought this was a conversation on a South Island bid.

[Mr_kiwi_fruit]

Originally Posted by IHaveNoLegs

A NZ bid? I thought this was a conversation on a South Island bid.

Are you being your usual arrogant, rude and obnoxious self again ?

Davee asked if this could be moved into the main forum and I agree with him. Just in case you didn't know it, South Island is part of New Zealand and therefore involves the entire country.

If you have a bone to pick with me send me a pm bit I will no longer tolerate your blatant crassness. Is that understood ?

[NapierMan]

There is a diference between a dream that could be realised and a dream that is completly fictitious.
With the current state of the government at the moment - another blow out on the budget for big project like RWC 2011 would be irresponsible and the last thing the government needs is millions of dollers spent for a sporting event as big as olympics - im not negative, just a realist. The government is borrowing milions just to keep the country running. Wealthy countries host the olympics- WAKE UP! this is a poor nation that is heavily in debt! We are in no situation to hold this event like this in the next 10 years - unless someone discovers vast amounts of oil that we could control- it is a wasted dream bound for disapointment.

[greenwelly]

Originally Posted by KIWIKAAS

There's no specific requirement, but the course should be fast and dynamic.
The current runs at Mt Hutt and Mt Ruapehu are too short verticly so they have to do these massive traverses to make up the distance which (as you can imagine) is not good at all.
How steep is the ''Big Mama'' at Porter Heights? Long is one thing, it's got be steep too.
Just to illustrate the problem. A decent downhill course would be double the distance from Coronet Peaks chairlift base to the peak.
What ever the case. No current skifield has such a course. Will be interesting to see what the solution might be.

There are specific requirements for a FIS course

http://www.fis-ski.com/data/document/ICR04.pdf

Downhill
701.1 Vertical Drop
701.1.1 Men's Courses
For Olympic Winter Games, FIS World Ski Championships, FIS World
Cups and FIS Continental Cups - 800 m (in exceptional cases 750 m, for Continental Cups 650 m) - 1100 m.

Big mama is around 620m

Currently no ski field in the country has 800m vert, In the south island it would require lift access and formed trails from either Treble Cone Summit, or North Peak at Mt Hutt, and even then it would only just scrape in.
(Yes there is a little used rule that allows you to split the race in two part if your poh-dunk country does have high mountains,but I cannot ever see it being used by the FIS)

The current course in Whistler has 959m of vert. (Whistler-blackcomb has a total of around 1600m vert)

Also NZers simply wouldn't turn up to watch the events, Vancouver is already getting grief over the low attendances at the alpine events, due to it being so far from Vancouver City and they have a population of around 2.4million in the metro area. - A World cup downhill race in Europe last month had 32,000 spectators, where would Wanaka/Methven put them all.

[Alphaville]

I would absolutely love this to happen, but sadly the IOC would be VERY reluctant to hold the event outside of Jan/Feb.

[piles]

How come?

[greenwelly]

Originally Posted by piles

How come?

I would imagine that it fits into the US winter sports TV market quite well, All the pro Hockey teams take a break so they can play for their respective countries.

Holding it in the southern Hemisphere tends to mean it would intrude on Baseball or NFL/Basketball