Anchorage, Sofia Disgruntled : Tiny Norway Town Wins Olympic Gold--for 1994

Little Lillehammer, Norway, was awarded the 1994 Winter Olympics by the International Olympic Committee today, beating out three other bidders, including a nettled Alaskan delegation.

The Norwegian resort had been considered an outsider among the four bidders for the first Winter Games not to be held in the same year as the Summer Olympics.

Lillehammer beat the firm favorite--Sofia, Bulgaria--as well as Anchorage, Alaska, and Ostersund, Sweden, in the IOC vote.

After Albertville, France, and Barcelona, Spain, stage the 1992 Winter and Summer Games respectively, the two events will be staggered at two-year intervals.

Cozy, Compact Olympics

Lillehammer, a town of 22,000 inhabitants, stressed in its bid that it would be able to stage a cozy, compact Olympics with all venues for individual sports within easy reach.

It will be only the second time the Winter Games have been held in Scandinavia. Oslo was the host in 1952.

Norway’s long and impressive tradition in winter sports--only the Soviet Union has won more gold medals at Winter Games--was another key factor in Lillehammer’s bid.

An even bigger surprise than Lillehammer’s victory was that Sofia was eliminated in the first round of voting with just 17 votes. Anchorage was second to be knocked down, leaving the two Scandinavian bids in contention for the final round.

The loss for Anchorage, the second in two years, left the organizers so upset that they said they might not bid again.

“I think it’s time to pull back, to think about it,” said Rick Mystrom, president of the Anchorage Organizing Committee.

Also clearly disappointed by the results, Sofia’s National Olympic Committee President Ivan Slavkov said the Bulgarian capital will not bid again for future Games.

“Normally we would expect some sympathy from outside our own bloc but this means only the bloc voted for us,” he said.