For weeks, the response given by the Generalitat to the possibility of submitting a solo candidacy to the Olympic Games was the same: they did not want to pass the screen and hoped to reach an agreement with Aragón to go hand in hand. The COE He had marked May 20 as the deadline to reach an agreement. But in view of the fact that the positions are still far away since the government of Javier Lamban distanced himself from the distribution of evidence (which the COE, the Spanish Government and the Generalitat defined as “presented, debated and agreed“) Catalunya is beginning to move now to perform alone.
The Catalan Federation of Winter Sports (FCEH), who has already kicked off the campaign for the ‘yes’ to the referendum, has also been the standard bearer of a solo candidacy if the bloc with Aragon continues. “We ask for courage: the Government to present a candidacy for Catalonia by 2030 and for the COE to be brave and consistent (…). If Aragon does not validate the agreement we reached, let’s launch a candidacy only from Catalonia. We have no guarantee that the IOC will not designate two venues in a row”, commented David Samper, who holds the presidency of the FCEH on a temporary basis while Mònica Bosch is the coordinator of the Barcelona-Pirineus 2030 candidacy. From her point of view, there is only political motivation in the Aragonese change of course. “It doesn’t make any sense, going against Catalonia sells. Mr. Lambán should be moved by this, because technically there are no arguments.”
🔴 David Samper: “Catalonia may have presented a candidacy for the Jocs Olímpics i Paralímpics d’Hivern. Now, it’s time”https://t.co/U2MkVgXFJp pic.twitter.com/kZlcvRIAom
— Catalan Esports Federation of Hivern (@fceh_cat) May 11, 2022
“We understand that the agreement with Aragon is good, but if Aragon continues like this, we ask the COE to exhaust the possibilities before losing the Games and study the one proposed by the FCEH,” sources from the Generalitat have commented to this newspaper. On Tuesday Alexander White He had told Efe that if there was no agreement there would be no candidacy. “The candidacy will be presented by the COE and signed by the two regional presidents and by the Government of Spain. If this is not the case, we will leave it and we will start thinking about something else, in 2034 or whenever.”
“The Government of Aragon does not rule out presenting a solo candidacy from the Aragonese Pyrenees if Catalonia does not accept an equal candidacy”, the Aragonese Executive feigned last week. It should be remembered that Jaca had applied, unsuccessfully, four times (1998, 2002, 2010 and 2014). Barcelona, despite the starting gun it gave Jordi Hereu in 2010, had resigned from the 2022 and 2026 Games. “This is not against Aragon but Catalonia has never presented itself and now it’s our turn”, pointed out the president of the FCEH.
Samper was in the office that Hereu opened in the Barcelona City Council and that he wanted the city to be Olympic again in 2022, 30 years after the Games that changed its face, and that it become the first to light the cauldron in summer and winter. A dream that Beijing has finally come true in 2022 with the winter event, after having hosted the Summer Games in 2008. Barcelona’s flame went out in 2013, but it has been reborn since Pere Aragones took the first official step in July last year.
Salt Lake City, Vancouver and Sapporo, waiting
The IOC already started at the end of last month in Salt Lake City (USA) the visits to the applicants and last week he also moved to vancouver (Canada). In addition to the two American proposals, Sapporo (Japan) is postulated as one of Barcelona’s firm rivals in case it finally shows up. Unlike the other three, the Catalan capital has the advantage of never having organized a Winter Games. But all the noise, not only because of Aragon’s rejection but from part of the territory, does not exactly help. Thomas Bachpresident of the IOC, plans to visit Barcelona on June 1so the unknown must be solved first.
reports
The Generalitat published a month ago on its website all the reports it had prepared, between 2018 and 2021, to present a solo candidacy for the Winter Games. From the documents it is extracted that, based on the sustainability criteria established by the IOC, Catalonia could not organize the Games without having to carry out some tests outside its territory.
The study, which consists of 16 reports and a 183-page summary technical documentpointed out that Catalonia could host most of the tests, with the exception of cross-country skiing and speed skating (which in the pact signed by the Generalitat, the Spanish Government and the COE should be held in Aragon) and the skeleton, bobsleigh and or jumps (which was intended to lead to sarajevothe option preferred by the COE).
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The reports suggested adapting the Pla d’Anyella for biathlon and cross-country skiing (which would have an initial cost of 18.5 million and a permanent investment of 25.1), or building a track at Fira de Barcelona 200 meters long. long by 80 wide for speed skating. But the COE proposed to the Generalitat in mid-2019 that, to avoid unnecessary waste, Aragón could be added to fill the gaps in the project.
The shared candidacy was built from scratch since Pere Aragonès sent the letter to the COE to opt for the Games on July 15. The technical agreement, which Aragón abjured, distributed the ice events, the ones that generate the most audience: hockey at Sant Jordi in Barcelona and skating and curling in Zaragoza and Jaca. The Aragonese Pyrenees was supposed to host the biathlon and cross-country skiing, while the Catalan Pyrenees were hosting alpine skiing, ski mountaineering, snowboarding and freestyle. It will be necessary to see what to see how the Olympic pulse evolves in the nine days that remain for the end of the match set by the COE, referee of the contest.