Winter Games findings receive cool reaction

Press, 3 April 1987, Page 5

Winter Games findings receive cool reaction

By

GARY BIRKETT

Staging Winter Olympic skating events in Christchurch would be impossible unless a huge new indoor complex was erected, says Christchurch ice-skating administrator.

The president of the Ice Racing Federation of New Zealand, Mrs Pam Gray, was responding to suggestions that if the Winter Olympics were staged at Queenstown the ice skating and ice hockey events would be held in Christchurch.

That was the finding of the seven-member committee set up by the Minister of Recreation and Sport, Mr Moore, and chaired by Mr Bob Jones.

Mrs Gray said the committee had failed to do its

homework. “Olympic speed skating is held on a 400-metre track and you would have to freeze an area the size of Queen Elizabeth II Park to stage it," she said. “Christchurch would have to have a huge new complex and with Christchurch’s weather it would have to be an indoor complex.”

The idea was “marvellous” but present facilities in Christchurch would be hopelessly inadequate.

“I can’t see the Winter Olympics being here in my lifetime,” Mrs Gray said. The committee said the ski-ing, bobsleigh, luge, ski-jumping and crosscountry events could be held at four adjacent skifields — Cardona, Coronet Peak, The Remarkables, and Pisa Range at

Wanaka. The public affairs manager of the Mount Cook Group, Mr Ted Beckett, said the idea was ambitious but Queenstown was the obvious place for a Winter Games.

“All the infrastructure is in place — the transport, the services, and the accommodation,” he said. The total cost of staging the Olympics has been put at $lOOO million at today’s prices. “I would question whether we would get that kind of publicity value in return,” Mr Beckett said. “There is no way private enterprise could cope with that sort of cost and ski-ing as a sport and industry does not have the degree of public following that other sports have.”

The chairman of the

Air New Zealand F.I.S. organising committee, Mr Neil Harrison, said that if money was no object the Olympics could be staged here.

He was a member of the investigating committee and was impressed by the enthusiasm of Mr Jones for the project However, he had reservations about New Zealand’s ability to organise such an event

“Bob Jones said commercial interests could look at running the Olympics at a profit along the same lines as New Zealand’s challenge for the America’s Cup. But we have no history of running these events. At the moment we have trouble organising . an international alpine ski-ing race,” Mr Harrison said.