Winter Olympic Games as environmental problem

Abstract

The Winter Olympic Games (WOG) are not only perceived as a sport competition on the international level, but simultaneously as a social event all over the world. New sport disciplines, an increasing number of participants (Fig. 1), and high demand for technical services for all sports venues are considered economic demands during the organization of WOG. The host country’s expenses of organizing White Olympics are measured in millions of dollars. The environmental impact of Winter Olympic Games is also another important aspect after the economic and the sport one. This concept of Olympics as an environmental factor was also presented by the IOC previous president J.A. Samaranch. The environment was emphasized as the third dimension of the Olympic movement: sport-culture-environment. The issue of sport and its environmental influence were for the first time presented at the 1994, XII Olympic Congress in Paris. The need for environmental protection is included in the general principles of the Olympic Charter (Anonymous 1996). The countries competing to hold the WOG need to convince the voting members of the IOC and the general public, of both the economic and ecological success of the games. Norway achieved this in 1994 and the games in Lillehammer have the distinction of not only being white but also green. This trend was reached due to the stand taken by the people of Norway when 65% of those surveyed chose the environment to be more important than gold medals of athletes representing Norway.