Erstellt am: 17. 1. 2012 - 15:59 Uhr
The Innsbruck Winter Youth Olympics 2012
Initially I felt like I had stepped into a time machine.
Coming off of the train at the Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof, I was greeted by large banners, posters, and signs everywhere sporting (no pun intended) the all-too-familiar logo designs of the Winter Olympics, which I recognized from the Vancouver edition. All around me were volunteers wearing the same style of blue jackets that their counterparts had worn during the last episode, and spectators wearing similar Olympic-designed winter gear.
Johnny Bliss, 2012
It must also be said, when a city has the distinction of hosting Olympic Games, there is a certain bubbling enthusiasm in the air, as present as if it were a strong odour or a barely-audible rumble. It's hard to describe, but there is definitely a certain bounce in the step of many of the young people walking by, a feeling that something is happening.
Johnny Bliss, 2012
As I've said, up to this point, all of this was very familiar to me.
However, one step outside of the train station, with the automatic glass doors opening and the first gust of icy wind blasting my face, and the illusion was deader than a doornail.
Johnny Bliss, 2012
Johnny Bliss, 2012
For one thing, it's actually cold.
During the weeks leading up to the games, I could be forgiven for thinking we were destined to a repeat of the "Spring Blossom Olympics" that Vancouverites were subjected to in 2010. Despite hearing increasingly ominous reports of massive snowfall shutting down entire Alpine villages and railway lines, in Vienna I noticed flowers blooming early in our garden, and managed to spend an afternoon sitting on the terrace reading a book.
* - Later on, I would discover the misery that is holding a microphone in one's naked fingers whilst attempting to conduct interviews in sub zero temperatures, but one thing at a time.
Then, two days before I left for Innsbruck it finally began to snow in Vienna, and for the first time this season I began to wear some of my heavier winter clothes around in the city.
Thanks to this early warning, the snow on all the peaks and rooftops in Innsbruck (and the accompanying temperatures) came as no big shock, at least not until I conveniently forgot my gloves in the very first taxi to my hotel in the neighbouring village of Lans.*
Johnny Bliss, 2012
It is also, very subtly, a smaller event. As much as these Olympics have taken over Innsbruck, I get the feeling that the people living and working here are at least somewhat capable of ignoring them. Let's be honest here as well, and admit that the international community, by and large, doesn't really care so much about the results of this curling match, or that ice hockey game won or lost by young athletes aged 15-18.
Johnny Bliss, 2012
* - Especially the Canadian Ice Hockey team, who beat the USA in their first match, by 5-1. Go Canada!
By saying this, I'm not trying to be dismissive of the accomplishments or abilities of the Junior Olympians either. Having sat through a men's figure skating competition, and watched some savage hockey playing earlier, I can attest to the actual abilities of many of these athletes.*
Johnny Bliss, 2012
It's like this: the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) are a sort of feel-good event, and make extremely good publicity for the International Olympic Committee (IOC), but the athletes themselves are, by default, almost completely unknown.
The IOC is clearly also aware of this point, which leads us to the biggest difference - for me as a reporter - between the Innsbruck Youth Olympics now, and their adult Vancouver counterpart, two years ago.
The Legacy.
Johnny Bliss, 2012
Neither the IOC nor the city of Innsbruck were going to invest the hundreds of millions of €€ that these sorts of mega-events tend to cost. I believe that the decision to award this year's YOG to Innsbruck could not have been an accident: having hosted the Winter Olympics two times before, in 1964 and in 1976, the city already had numerous Olympic venues and infrastructure in place, making it an ideal location to host such an event.
Johnny Bliss, 2012
* - That said, I am aware that there has been some justifiable criticism, particularly focusing on the rather large budget overrun, which my colleague Simon Welebil has already outlined in his fantastic web story: Frischzellenkur für Olympia?
What this means in contrast to the 2010 Games, is that the environmental effect is significantly smaller - there is no need to build a new highway over delicate wetlands, or to tear down low-income occupancy hotels to make way for Olympic construction, just to name some 2010 examples.
Because of the comparative lack of disenfranchised people getting Screwed, there are less critical voices raised, and therefore less incentive for the IOC to clamp down on free speech.*
The domino effect of this is that I spend my time at the actual sporting events which I'm ostensibly here to cover, rather than at the offices of civil rights lawyers and makeshift homeless tent villages. Over the remaining days of the Winter YOG, I'll keep my eyes open for social, environmental and governance issues, however, and I will let you know if I find anything.
Ruminations of Note.
Johnny Bliss, 2012
* - feat. Texta
The free outdoor concerts are something special, particularly because they have been from bands like Russkaja and SK Invitational*, speaking to the audience in German as they would at any other concert in Austria, and not giving a whit if their international audience actually understands or not.
Perhaps my one complaint about the outdoor music festival is that it is simply too damn cold for my tastes. Russkaja, in my experience, is a dish best served hot, and I had a hard time getting into their show whilst shivering me nads off. (On the plus side, I guess this means that one never forgets which season's Olympic Games these are.)
Johnny Bliss, 2012
Johnny Bliss, 2012
Johnny Bliss, 2012
For good or for ill, each region brings its own unique personality to the Games. Yesterday, on an Innsbruck bus, I was reminded that the local culture in Austria has some pretty unpleasant sides as well.
Behold: A cranky middle aged woman was occupying two seats, one for herself and the other simply for her purse. The bus became crowded, and eventually a mother with two children asked this woman if she could sit down with one of her kids. This lady flat out refused, and sat there looking foul-tempered for some minutes while the rest of us gave her the Death Stare. She did eventually give way and put her purse on her own lap, but not without grumbling and making a small scene out of it first.
Why do I even mention this? Well, because it happened on a bus crowded with athletes and international organizer types, and everyone noticed.
Sure, rude people exist everywhere, but well-to-do older people who are nevertheless pissed off at the entire world are something really special; instantly familiar if you've been here for a while, but pretty shocking if you're just here for the Olympic Games. I, for one, was embarrassed.
Johnny Bliss, 2012
On a final note, there is something very special, and worth noting, about the Innsbruck YOG: The actual youth element. Yesterday I was sitting on a shuttle bus going to Congress, when suddenly there was this burst of energy up front, and eight to ten young teenagers in full Olympic gear came aboard, shouting, laughing and generally being cheerfully excited.
It suddenly occurred to me that these were the stars of the day, the Olympic athletes that we all came here to see.
And I thought, that's pretty nifty.
Listen here to my interview with the Cayman Island Alpine Team, and some Innsbruckerinnen, too: