On Sunday, 15 October, citizens of the Tyrol region and the city of Innsbruck were called to the polls to express their views on the Austrian ambition to host the Winter Games in 2026.
Twice Host City of the event in the past, Innsbruck hoped to be able to compete again in the organization of the Games.
However, voters rejected the bid : 53.35% were opposed to the Olympic ambition, while 46.65% have supported Innsbruck 2026.
The turnout was about 58.43%, with respectively 166,594 votes cast for the “No” and 145 643 votes cast on the “Yes”.
This electoral setback is the second failure of a city wishing to host the 2026 Olympics after the rejection of the Grisons project by the citizens of this Swiss canton. The reverse of this Sunday confirms in any case the fragility of the current Olympic model, especially on European continent.
For the 2022 Olympic Games, the Swiss candidate of St. Moritz was forced to resign after the results of a referendum, as well as Krakow (Poland) and Munich (Germany). Two other European cities subsequently abandoned the Games race; Oslo (Norway) and Stockholm (Sweden).
Popular and political pressure also hit the European cities contending for the 2024 Summer Olympics, with successive withdrawals from Hamburg (Germany), Rome (Italy) and Budapest (Hungary).
In the near future, and in the light of these various results, another European bid should be submitted to the referendum, with an uncertain outcome.
The Sion project (Switzerland) is expected to be presented to the population in spring 2018.