Shattered Salzburg searching for answers
GUATEMALA: Salzburg's vanquished 2014 Winter Olympics bid team were at a loss for words after the International Olympic Committee awarded Russia's Sochi the right to stage the Games on Wednesday.
Salzburg was eliminated in the first round of voting at the IOC's session in Guatemala City, prompting sobs from the delegation watching on closed circuit television.
It was the second successive time the Austrian city lost out in the first round.
"We had hoped to make the second round. I just can't explain it," Salzburg governor Gabi Burgstaller said.
"There was a discussion in the past days here about money. Salzburg cannot take part in that.
"We have to allow for the decision to sink in. But the disappointment is great."
A tearful Salzburg mayor Heinz Schaden hugged colleagues and struggled for words to describe the result.
"Give me a few minutes. Not now," said a red-eyed Schaden.
The Russian Black Sea resort town of Sochi won the second round of voting with 51 ballots to Pyeongchang's 47.
It was also the second time in a row the South Korean resort town has missed out.
Austrian Prime Minister Alfred Gusenbauer questioned the thinking behind the IOC decision but said Salzburg did its best.
"I am convinced that the concept we presented was the absolute best. Other reasons came into play," he said.
"We made Austria proud and it was a great advertisement for our country."
Salzburg had centred its bid around its long tradition as a winter sports haven in the Austrian Alps and pushed the fact that it had seven of eleven venues already in place.
Germany's Georg Hackl, Olympic bobsleigh champion, who supported the Salzburg bid said the result was totally unexpected. "We did a really good job in the presentation. Everything is ready and I don't understand it."
Agencies
(China Daily 07/06/2007 page23)
