Impressions after three weeks at the Olympic Games in London.
“Ah, to Steibock!” , Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf was delighted with her visit to London's “House of Switzerland” a week ago. Graubünden 2022 Here you can find out about Graubünden's plans to bring the Olympic Games back into the mountains. Large-scale international lobbying is not the order of the day here: In the “House”, Swiss people in particular receive information.
The fact that we are not only focusing on the two weeks of the games and the two venues, but also on the entire canton, the whole of Switzerland and on a time horizon of two decades, is generally highly praised. The concept of innovation dialogues to find solutions for the future is also very well received. Foreign visitors are usually a bit surprised when I tell them that we first hold a referendum before running in Grisons.
But the system makes sense; games can only be made with the support of the population. Barely an hour goes by without being reminded of this here in London: The impeccable organization, helpfulness and friendliness of the people inside and outside the Olympic venues are literally contagious. Londoners are obviously happy about the Olympic Games in their metropolis.
Day by day, I am more convinced that the Swiss will also be enthusiastic about the Winter Olympics one day. Admittedly, the audience here at the House of Switzerland is very fond of sports, but they come from all parts of the country. Many tourism professionals are among them and they are convinced that Graubünden will make a big difference across the country in 2022 and bring a great deal to the holiday destination of Switzerland.
However, the referendum in Grisons is decisive: We still have a lot of information work to do until March 3, 2013. We will go to people and explain what we plan to do with Grisons in 2022 and how we will make it so that the entire canton, indeed the whole of Switzerland, will win through a candidacy. In addition to further developing the project, there are dozens, if not hundreds of panel discussions, media appearances and individual discussions ahead of us. A marathon we're looking forward to.
“There is still a long way to go,” said Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf at her farewell last Saturday. “But the first steps were good.” She will be back this Sunday to see Roger Federer in the tennis final. She will then come back to us at Swiss House. Hopefully to celebrate the second Swiss gold medal.
St. Moritzer Christian Gartmann (47) is head of communications at the Graubünden 2022 association. During the Summer Olympics, he will be providing information on the Graubünden plans for an Olympic candidacy at the London “House of Switzerland”. His impressions can also be found on www.facebook.com/gr2022.