Part A: The Modern Games – Geography
Sweden has a long relation with the Olympic Games since 1896. It was the first time Sweden ever participated in an Olympic platform. Moreover, the performance of Sweden in the Olympic is quite impressive that it was the only country to get medals in all Olympic Games except the 1896 and 1904s (Dahlén, 2014). Indeed the country also hosted the summer Olympics in 1912 in Stockholm and shared the venue with Australia in 1956 summer Olympics (Sanchez-Fernandez & Vaammonde-Liste, 2016). Based on this understanding, it can be stated that the purpose of this report is to portray the history and facts of Stockholm Olympic in accordance with the achievements and issues and also the economic factors that are contributed significantly in the hosting of Olympic Games.
Olympic
As it is mentioned earlier that Sweden was able to host only one Olympic events in the year 1912 summer Olympic but in the 1956 Olympics the country shared the venue with Melbourne Australia by hosting only the equestrian events due to quarantine reasons (olympic.org., 2018). However, there were a number of unsuccessful bids like in 1984, 1988, 1992 and more. In this context, the recent addition was the 2022 winter Olympics which was cancelled finally.
Located in the Northern Europe bordering the Baltic Sea, Sweden shares its border with Finland and Norway. The size of the country is measured to three times the size of Georgia and slightly larger than California. The total landed boundary of Sweden is estimated 2,211 km whereas the country has a long coastline of 3,218 km (Cia.gov., 2018). as far as the climate of the country is concerned it can be stated that it is generally cold in nature where cloudy winters and summers can be seen. The geographical feature is also identified that the country has flat or gently rolling lowland and in the west there are mountains. Moreover, the natural resource of this region are full of hydropower and minerals like iron ore, gold and copper. Most of the land is covered with forestry and the Swedish people are lived in the southern part of the region.
Some unique athletic achievements by the Swedish athletes are as follows,
- Famous Swedish swimmer Therese Alshammarwas one of the popular Olympians in the history of Swedish Olympics. It can be stated that she was one of the most appearing participants with a number of six time Olympic participant. Started from 1996 at the age of 18, Theresehas won over 25 world championships and 3 Olympic medals (Power & Hallencreutz, 2017). She was a specialist in short distance races in freestyles and butterfly and broke a number of records. In the 2016 Rio de Janerio Olympics she decided to retire from the all Olympics and international events. She is a icon for the young Swedish swimmers who dream to win a medal in any Olympic events (Yttergren, 2018).
- Besides this, Gert Fridolf Fredriksson, a Swedish sprint canoeist is the most medal holder in the history of Swedish Olympics. It can be stated that he performed in Olympic from 1948 to 1960. As per the record, he hold six gold medals with a total of nine medals. He was considered to be most successful canoeist in the history of Swedish Olympics. As matter of fact, it can be stated that Fredrikssonwas awarded with the Mohammed Taher Trophy in 1956 for his outstanding contribution in the history of Olympics. A significant fact is that he was the only canoeist ever who got the trophy (Tolvhed, 2015).
- Furthermore, Kerstin Palmwas a Swedish fencer who recorded to appear in most number of Olympics Games with a number of seven times for Sweden. As a matter of fact, this is still a record in the most participating women in Olympics (Power & Hallencreutz, 2017). It can be stated that she started participating in the Olympic Games since mid-1960s and successfully retired from it in the year 1988.
- As a matter of fact, Oscar Swahnwas the oldest participant to win an Olympic medal at an age of 60. He was belonged to Sweden and in the 1908 Summer Olympics he won two gold medals in the running deer single shot events both individual events as well as a team. The 1912 also he won a gold medal. The 1920 summer Olympics was identified as the last Olympic event in his life at an age of 72 (Yttergren, 2018). He was also the oldest medallist of all time. However, due to illness he did not complete the 1924 games but his name wrote in golden letter in the history of Olympics.
The Swedish political problem also caused serious issues related to conduct Olympics in the country. The recent bidding for the Winter Olympics 2026 also proved that political power vacuum in the country perturbed hosting Olympics. As a result of this political power vacuum Sweden was compelled to step out from the bidding of Winter Olympics 2026 (Giovannetti & Keller, 2018). In this context, the role of the International Olympic Committee was also important to discuss. In this regard, it can be stated that the Swedish general election in September resulted a coalition government where the leftist Social Democrats in coalition with the Greens and the Centre-right Moderates got equal seats of 40% (Ostlere, 2018). In this dire situation the proposal for a new Swedish Prime Minister was rejected and the Moderates attempted to take over the power with an alliance with the minor Christian Democratic Party. Despite of all the efforts taken by the Moderates the Swedish Parliament decided to resolve the issue by putting the Social Democrats as the interim ruling power. As a result of that it left consequences in the decision of bidding for the 2026 Winter Olympics. Nevertheless, the interim government did not entertain any investment with the taxpayers’ money in 2026 Winter Olympics bidding (bbc.com, 2018). In course of this, reluctance and a popular protest against such investment pushed the government to withdraw its biding. In fact, the International Olympic Committee also concerned about the political dilemma circled around the nation and despite of having assurance from the government that the entire bidding and investment would be 100% privately financed, IOC did not pursue further.
Part B: Unique Athletic Achievements
Moreover, in the 2026 Para-Olympics Sweden was intended to bid for hosting the event. However, having political turmoil inside the country made the situation worsen for the Swedish Olympic Committee and finally they withdrew their name as the potential bidders. In this context, it can be stated that the initial plan of Stockholm was to organise the event outside the capital city. The purpose was to reduce the costs and the pressure from the local people. In fact, the Chief Executive of Stockholm 2026, Richard Brisius stated that the cry against hosting Olympic events in the country was there since the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang in February and it was blasted during the bidding for 2026 Winter Olympics (bbc.com, 2018). The political factors and interests outplayed the chances to host Olympic Games that the country failed to get since 1912.
As far as the costs of hosting Olympic Games the average expenses cost US$ 5.2 billion in n average. It is the costs for a summer Olympic Game. Besides this, in case of the Winter Olympic Games the average cost is accounted US$ 3.1 billion (Mahon, 2018). Despite of all these numbers it can be argued that in course of time the cost of the Olympic Games has been increased in a rapid pace with the gradual increase in accessories. For an example, the Beijing Summer Olympic in 2008 had a cost over 44 billion whereas the Sydney Summer Olympics had an expense of AUD 6.6 billion. From this evaluation it is very clear that the hike in expenses is considered to be a threat for the small or not so small countries to host an Olympic. According to McBride (2018) it can be stated that the hike in costs is going to take down the popularity of the sport and there are other issues for the world to deal with rather than wasting that amount of money on sports events like Olympics.
Based on this understanding, it is important to evaluate the situation from the perspective of Sweden. According to the OECD report, it can be asserted that the economic growth in the country is still flourishing but the pace of growth has reduced significantly. Moreover, the inflation rate touches its pinnacle with a housing demand in its declining phase and the country is going towards a systematic unemployment phase (Oecd.org., 2018). As a matter of fact, the fiscal and monetary policies are not effective enough to deal with such problems and risks in the Swedish market is so high that the giant corporate organisations are not interested in investing money in this dire situation (Eriksson & Hane-Weijman, 2017). In addition to this, the immigration problem and dearth of educational reforms worsen the situation badly and therefore, the common people of Sweden did not want to invest the public money with such an overwhelming figure on the Olympics. Based on all those factors it is evident that the Swedish people will never tolerate this kind of investment in Olympics rather than utilising it on developing the country’s economy. Nevertheless, the Swedish government claimed that the bidding funds are strictly based on the private funds but still question arises on the basis of the development and growth of Sweden.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be argued that the history of Olympics and participation of Sweden in such a glorious and joyous event is undoubtedly a major achievement for the country. It proved the efficiency and the credibility of the Swedish athletes to demonstrate their skills in an international arena. Moreover, the country is always praises new generations and the young talents to come forward in order to lead from the front. However, despite all those prides and glories, it can never be undermine that the political and economic situation of Sweden is not suited to host such a major event. In political scenario the country is going through a political vacuum that needs to be filled at first. On the other hand, the hike in expenses and the dire economic situation in Sweden make it inhospitable for organising Olympics. Therefore, it can be concluded that despite of having a glorified history of Olympic it is not the right time for Sweden to host a major event like Olympics. Perhaps in near future Sweden will also get chance.
References
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Mahon, J. (2018). 2026 Winter Olympics: Which cities are bidding to host the Games?. Retrieved from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/ski/news/2026-winter-olympics-bidding-cities/
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Sjöholm, M. (2018). 20 Swedish superstars in sports | sweden.se. Retrieved from https://sweden.se/culture-traditions/20-swedish-superstars-in-sports/
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