Olympic Cities

LIVE! FROM LAKE PLACID NEW YORK! The 2042 WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES!

Likely to happen? Probably not! 

Impossible? Not necessarily!

In the world of Winter sports, no event is as large or magnificent as the Winter Olympics. First held in 1924,  the recent Games  featured more than 2,800 athletes from 90 countries competing in 116 medal events, over a two week period in one country.

In four years, the host will be the French Alps – a region, not a city, a town, or a village. In 2034, the games will be back in the US, based in Salt Lake City where they were held in 2002. They were last in North America in 2010 where they were based in Vancouver, Canada. Since then they were held in Russia, Korea, China, and most recently, Milan/Cortina Italy. . 

So where does Lake Placid  stand in the array of possible future host sites?

Well for starters, there are plenty of people who would like to see it happen. It is not just nostalgia in the small village of 2,800 in Northern New York that is one of only four places ( St. Moritz Switzerland, Innsbruck Austria and most recently Cortina are the other three) that have hosted twice before – in 1932 and 1980.  Today, Lake Placid, with major on-going support from New York State, continues to regularly host major winter sports competitions at first rate facilities including rare international venues for bobsled, luge, skeleton, ski jumping, speed skating and biathlon. Maintaining those current facilities is a far easier reach than building them from scratch and recent history suggests that the state is willing to allocate funds tor that purpose. 

And there is an organization in place; the Lake Placid Olympic Regional Development Authority that since 1982 has been charged by New York State to organize and coordinate international sports events. Like in Salt Lake, having an experienced organization in place is a major leg up in planning and carrying out the games.

But comparing Lake Placid to Salt Lake City is a long stretch. In addition to a much larger population base and big city accommodations and existing infrastructure like its modern, large international airport, Salt Lake is capable of handling major global events right now. 

Lake Placid? Not so much. The nearest significant airport is more than an hour away, and being a small village is a charm residents want to retain.  Right now,  highway access is mainly on winding two lane NY Route 73 that runs 32 miles through the Adirondack Mountains from the nearest interstate. 

So what is all the talk about hosting another winter Games? 

At one point, there was talk of a cross border Olympics with New York and the Candian Province of Quebec sharing host honors. But Montreal, two hours away, has lingering fallout from hosting the 1976 summer games and with the difficulties of cross border sponsorship, that idea never gained much traction. 

 But in the US? Entirely within New York State?  

For more than 10 years, it has been a topic of discussion. In most cases  “Lake Placid” serves as a euphemism for what has been called the I-87 games, a Winter Olympics that would stretch from New York City to the Adirondack Mountains,  a distance of about, 260 miles, connected mostly by interstate highways. 

The idea has merit. First of all facilities for the games already exist. The various figure skating competitions would be a natural in New York City. There are several options for skiing’s technical races ,  curling,  and snowboarding competitions in both the Catskills and Southern Adirondacks between New York City and Lake Placid, and tested venues for Winter Olympic sports already exist  in the region. The hockey competition could be hosted in several locations but the finals would be in Lake Placid, of course.  

This would not be the retro small village Games that many associate fondly with past Olympics. In 1980, the greatest distance between sports venues in Lake Placid was 14 miles.  But this kind of cozy arrangements hasn’t been the case at Winter Games for many years now. Most recently, Milan/ Cortina competition sites were more than 300 miles apart. In the two games before that in Korea and in China, main venues  were some 150 miles apart. In the French Alps in 2030, home base in Nice on the Mediterranean and other proposed competition venues in the mountains are as much as 200 miles away.

While the ideal has always been for many nations to have the opportunity to host the Winter Games, the cost associated with the Olympics today is such  that many potential candidates take a look and bow out. Lake Placid wants in and, certainly as the most recent Winter Games demonstrates, it is already a part of the conversation.

With the 2034 already set for Salt Lake City, it is unlikely that the International Olympic Committee would award back to back Games to the same country. If that remains true, the next possible opportunity to host in the USA would be 2042. 

And why not? 

Do you believe in miracles?