The selection of the French Alps as a “preliminary host” of the 2030 Winter Olympic Games (OG) is rejoicing in the resorts hoping to host events, where we intend to take advantage of this opportunity, but also raises concerns about the economic cost and ecological of the event.
“This is good news,” says Bertrand Pujol, restaurateur in La Plagne, where the bobsleigh track, inherited from the 1992 Winter Games in Albertville, should be reused. “It will bring people back,” says Noémie Ratel, employee of a store in the station.
“Very happy”, Mayor Jean-Luc Boch, also president of the Association of Mountain Station Mayors (ANMSM), evokes “the obligation to achieve results”, particularly in terms of transport, so that these Games are “memorable “.
If the Earth Uprisings quickly called for a “festive” protest on Saturday in Albertville, the decision of the International Olympic Committee to only retain the French file for a “targeted dialogue” also triggered an enthusiastic reaction, particularly in the stations where the tests could be organized.
“Wonderful dream come true”, says Guy Hermitte, mayor of Montgenèvre (Hautes-Alpes), while his colleague Mylène Agnelli, in Isola (Alpes Maritimes), assures that “everyone is already at work to refine this file”.
The question of transport
Presented as a “sober” project and “concerned with a sustainable mountain”, the pre-file proposes to use “85% of existing or temporary sites”, including “12 of the 13 infrastructures built as part of the Albertville Olympics” in 1992, with two ice rinks to be built in Nice. An unknown: the speed skating oval — considered one of the most expensive and most maligned “white elephant” structures.
Another outstanding point is the choice of site for the opening ceremony, according to the IOC feasibility study.
There is also the question of transport, while 300 to 400 kilometers separate Nice (skating and Olympic village) from the resorts of the Northern Alps, Le Grand-Bornand (biathlon), Courchevel-Méribel, Val d’Isère or La Clusaz ( cross-country skiing). Or a “big carbon footprint” for the transport of visitors, observes the mayor of Bourg-Saint-Maurice, Guillaume Desrue.
“For us, it is essential that the rail solution be favored” to transport spectators and athletes, he emphasizes. The station in the small town, which according to him should serve as a “rear base” for the alpine skiing events in Val d’Isère, is already struggling to accommodate the annual transit of 40,000 to 50,000 passengers during the winter season.
Currently, it takes more than eight hours, with two or three connections, to connect your city to the Côte d’Azur by train. And going by road (500 to 600 km) from Bourg-Saint-Maurice to Nice currently takes more than six hours via the Rhône valley or via Italy.
So many constraints that worry many.
“We are not that happy about it… It involves us in organizing an ephemeral event which will have disastrous consequences in the long term,” says Claudie Ternoy-Léger, environmentalist municipal councilor of Albertville, elected to the council. regional region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, citing the risk of “financial overrun” and “ecological devastation”.
“Seven years of fighting”
The forecast budget of 1.6 billion euros “for two weeks” is “indecent given the challenges of our territories”, underline the elected environmentalists of the Alpes-Maritimes, calling for a national referendum on the project.
In 1992, the overall bill for the Games amounted to 1.7 billion euros, with a deficit of around 45 million filled 75% by the State and 25% by the department of Savoie. Albertville’s housing tax increased by 40% between 1990 and 1993.
“In 2030, will the Olympics be the stuff of dreams while at the same time mid-mountain resorts throughout our region will close their doors due to lack of snow or financial problems? » asks Fiona Mille, president of Mountain Wilderness, a mountain protection association. She denounces the “recipes of the past century” of the pre-file, in the age of global warming and snow cannons.
“We are back for seven years of combat and we will not give up,” also assures Stéphane Passeron, member of the No-JO collective and former high-level cross-country skier.
The French Alps’ candidacy must still go through several months of detailed evaluation before the final decision, which must be made next year, probably before the opening of the 2024 Olympics.