Olympic Environmental Concerns as a Legacy of the Winter Games

Abstract

The Olympic Winter Games are partly held in mountain resorts and are thus closer to nature, a fact that has frequently led them to encounter strong opposition from environmental organizations. This paper recalls these episodes and explores how the ideas of environmental protection and sustainable development have been slowly incorporated in the Olympic rhetoric. It shows how a set of environmental principles developed through the experiences of local organizers at most Winter Games since the 1970s, and how the International Olympic Committee adopted them in the 1990s and incorporated them in the Olympic ideal. The article also explains why Olympic environmental concerns can be considered as one of the major non-material legacies that the winter games have bequeathed to the Olympic movement.

Notes

[1] International Olympic Committee, Olympic Charter, 12.

[2] Clough, ‘The Atlanta Olympics and Academia’, 1.

[3] Sjoquist, The Olympic Legacy.

[4] McGeoch, with Korporal, The Bid.

[5] Athens Bid Committee, A Legacy for Olympism.

[6] International Olympic Committee, 2008 Evaluation Commission Report, 95.

[7] De Moragas, Kennett, and Puig, eds, The Legacy of the Olympic Games.

[8] Rogge, ‘Message from the President of the IOC’, 13.

[9] Chappelet, ‘The Legacy of the Winter Games’, 63.

[10] See rule 1.14 in IOC, Olympic Charter, 12.

[11] See, for example, Cashman, The Bitter-Sweet Awakening; Ong, ‘New Beijing, Great Olympics’, 35–49; Ross, Olympic Homecoming.

[12] Cashman, ‘What Is “Olympic Legacy”?’, 35.

[13] McAloon, ‘Cultural Legacy’, 271–8.

[14] Arnaud and Terret, Le Rêve blanc.

[15] Ibid., 89–106.

[16] Simmons, ‘St. Moritz 1928’, 228–31.

[17] Fea, ‘Lake Placid 1932’, 232–6.

[18] Essex and Chalkey, ‘The Winter Olympics’, 48–58.

[19] Ortloff and Ortloff, Lake Placid.

[20] Fea, 295–301.

[21] Stauff, ‘Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936’, 237–41.

[22] Available at http://www.gamesbids.com/forums/index.php?showtopic = 9303&st = 0, accessed 5 March 2008.

[23] Ferry, Le Nouvel Ordre écologique.

[24] Simmons, ‘St. Moritz 1928’, 228–31.

[25] Ashwell, ‘Squaw Valley 1960’, 263–9.

[26] Arnaud and Terret, Le Rêve blanc, 220–1.

[27] Meadows, The Limits to Growth.

[28] Arbena, ‘Mexico City 1968: The Games of the XIXth Olympiad’, 139–47.

[29] Addkinson-Simmons, ‘Sapporo 1972’, 284–5.

[30] Kagaya, ‘Infrastructural Facilities Provision for Sapporo's Winter Olympic of 1972’, 61.

[31] Essex and Chalkley, ‘The Winter Olympics’, 48–58.

[32] Kennedy, ‘Innsbruck 1976’, 289.

[33] Ibid., 289–94.

[34] Keller, ‘Olympics Illuminate the Long War over the Future of the Adirondacks’, 42–51.

[35] Fea, ‘Lake Placid 1980’, 298.

[36] Bridel, ‘Les Candidatures suisses aux Jeux olympiques d'hiver’, 37–44.

[37] Wamsley, ‘Calgary 1988’, 310–17.

[38] Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions, Mega-Events, Olympic Games, and Housing Rights, 97–113.

[39] Landry and Yerlès, One Hundred Years, 286.

[40] Ponson, ‘Les XVI^e Jeux olympiques d'hiver d'Albertville et de la Savoie’, 109–16.

[41] Lellouche, ‘Albertville and Savoie 1992’, 319.

[42] Mathisen, ‘Are We Using This Golden Opportunity?’, 15.

[43] OL'94, ‘Olympic Games with a Green Profile’, 2.

[44] Klausen, Olympic Games as Performance and Public Event, 34.

[45] Landry and Yerlès, One Hundred Years, 286.

[46] Rule 2.10 at the time.

[47] Chappelet, Le Rêve inachevé ou les candidatures de Sion aux Jeux olympiques d'hiver, 12.

[48] Chappelet, The International Olympic Committee and the Olympic System, 21.

[49] Chappelet, Le Rêve inachevé ou les candidatures de Sion aux Jeux olympiques d'hiver, 53–60.

[50] Chernushenko, ‘Sion 2006 Olympic Bid Creates Sustainability “Rainbow Paper”’.

[51] United Nations Environmental Programme, Olympic'94: A Showcase for Environmental Policy in Norway 1988–1994.

[52] Landry and Yerlès, One Hundred Years, 288.

[53]Olympic Message, March 1993, 35.

[54] Available at www.fis-ski.com/uk/insidefis/fisandtheenvironment1.html, accessed 5 March 2008.

[55] Available at http://rtpca.convio.net/site/PageServer?pagename=rtp_History, accessed 5 March 2008.

[56] Resolution A/RES/48/10, adopted on 25 October 1993.

[57] Chappelet, ‘Olympism, Culture and Nature’, 39–40.

[58] United Nations Environmental Programme, Olympic ‘94.

[59] Available at www.unep.org/sport_env/Olympic_games/index.asp, accessed 5 March 2008.

[60] Nagano Olympic Committee, Official Report of the XVIII Olympic Winter Games, 11.

[61] Matsumura, ‘Nagano Olympic Wastes’.

[62] International Olympic Committee, Olympic Movement's Agenda, 21.

[63] International Olympic Committee, Guide on Sport, Environment and Sustainable Environment, 142–60.

[64] Dubi et al., ‘Olympic Games Management’, 403–13.

[65] International Olympic Committee, ‘2016 Candidature Procedure and Questionnaire’, 11.

[66] Greenpeace Australia Pacific, How Green Are the Games?

[67] Salt Lake Olympic Committee, Official Report, 194–203.

[68] Torino Olympic Committee, Sustainability Report – 2004/05, 109–48.

[69] Torino Olympic Committee, Sustainability Report, 2004/2005, 6.

[70] Torino Olympic Committee, Olympic Games and Social Responsibility in Sport.

[71] Vancouver Olympic Committee, Vancouver 2010 Sustainability Report 2005–06, 4–9.

[72] Ibid., 119.

[73] International Olympic Committee, 2014 Evaluation Commission Report, 14.

[74] Jacques Rogge, ‘Olympics Must Go for Green as Well as Gold’, Financial Times, 25 Oct. 2007.

[75] Cantelon and Letters, ‘The Making of the IOC Environmental Policy as the Third Dimension of the Olympic Movement’, 294–308.

[76] Maass, ‘The Olympic Values’, 30.

[77] Quanz, ‘Civic Pacificism and Sports-Based Internationalism’, 1–24.