Andorra Unhappy Not To Be Awarded An FIS World Championships
Andorra Unhappy Not To Be Awarded An FIS World Championships
Published : 16-Jun-2024 06:24
Andorra has gone public on its unhappiness at being unsuccessful in its bid to host either the 2029 or 2031 World Championships, recently awarded to Narvik and Val Gardena.
It's been wanting to host them for many years now and has got as far as staging the World Cup Finals as well as World Cup races and has previously even been part of a plans for a joint bid with France to host the Winter Olympics.
In a press release, the principality's organising committee wrote:
"The World Championships were the highest sporting goal to which an entire country and region aspired, and Andorra, for the second time, was left out. Politics and the clash between two large blocs of the FIS, on the one hand the countries favourable to the president of the international body, Johan Eliasch and on the other, his opponents, ended up penalizing the Andorran candidacy. Although the technical management of the FIS has repeatedly expressed the very high level of the Andorran proposal, and the athletes themselves, the teams, the sports family have done so, the verdict was resounding and the evaluation of the file put back in the background."
Even the country's president Xavier Espot, weighed in, saying,
"We have the capacity to ensure that Andorra is duly recognized for what it is and respected for the work accomplished. I am deeply proud to be head of government of a country that presented a candidacy that, without doubt, should have won."
David Hidalgo, director of Andorra's bid commented,
"It is time to reflect and wait for the FIS to truly commit to change. Currently, there was a movement of renewal, but it did not receive the support of the majority. We don't want to compete with the great classics but they didn't let us compete anyway. The vote reflects a context in which, rather than voting for the best proposal, it has moved towards a camp to support. This was based more on personal struggles and egos than on technical criteria and the values of the sport. It's a shame. We have done everything possible, and now it is up to us to be self-critical, to learn about what we can improve and to know how to read all situations for the future."
Narvik won the 2029 voting with receiving 11 votes, ahead of Val Gardena's with eight and Soldeu with one. In voting for 2031 Val Gardena, which previously hosted the biannual competition in 1970, received 14 votes, beating Soldeu's six votes.
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