LONDON — With the crisis in Ukraine escalating by the day, the prospect of the Winter Olympics going to the former Soviet republic seems hard to imagine. Yet, the western Ukrainian city of Lviv hasn’t given up on its bid for the 2022 Games.
Lviv remains among the five contenders in what is turning into a very unstable race, vying with Almaty, Kazakhstan; Beijing; Krakow, Poland; and Oslo.
But the Lviv bid is in a state of limbo amid Ukraine’s burgeoning tensions with Russia and pending presidential elections on May 25, a result that could determine whether the candidacy is dropped or goes forward to the IOC’s short-list decision in July.
“Currently our dream is on hold due to the current circumstances in Ukraine and at least until after the presidential elections,” bid chief executive Sergei Goncharov told The Associated Press. “We have minimized our operations and suspended promotional and media activities until the solution of the current challenges that Ukraine faces.”
Tensions in Ukraine have increased since the overthrow of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych and Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula. A well-armed, Russia-backed insurgency has sowed chaos in eastern Ukraine in the past weeks, with militants seizing buildings in more than 10 towns.
“Once the elections are over we will sit down with our main stakeholders and the president to analyze whether at this point we can fulfill our commitments and expectations that come with organizing Olympic Games,” Goncharov said in an interview on the sidelines of last week’s SportAccord convention in Belek, Turkey.
“We do not want to be running a bid where we cannot deliver.”
Lviv, a city of about 700,000 people, is located in western Ukraine and is closely linked with the West, rather than Moscow. It is considered one of the main cultural and tourist centers of Ukraine.
The five bid cities submitted their applicant files to the IOC last month and will report by video conference to IOC officials on May 8. The IOC executive board will meet in Lausanne, Switzerland, from July 8 to 9 to decide which cities make the list of finalists. The IOC could keep all five or cut the field to as few as two. The full IOC will select the host city on July 31, 2015.
The IOC will need clarity on the Ukraine situation before its July meeting. Goncharov kept a low profile in Belek, meeting quietly with delegates behind the scenes. His message was restrained.
“When speaking to people, it’s clear I cannot promote the bid too much because everybody understands that we have other challenges that are more important right now,” he said. “I’m being honest with everybody.”