Klamath Falls Drops Bid for ’98 Winter Olympics

A Klamath Falls group has withdrawn its request that the 1998 Winter Olympic Games be held in the southern Oregon city.

The withdrawal came Tuesday in a meeting here between the Klamath Falls Winter Games Organizing Committee and the U.S. Olympic Committee’s site selection team.

“The reason is we can’t meet their requirements for data, which are required by Friday,” said Linda Grover, a member of the organizing committee.

She said the site team wanted explicit data on funding facilities, traffic flows, revenue sources and studies on projected income from the facilities after the Olympics, among other information.

“They want a mountain of information,” said Michael Hartfield, a city spokesman. “Nobody knew they wanted that kind of information just to make the initial decision.”

The seven-member site selection team toured Klamath Falls and the surrounding ski areas, including Mt. Bachelor ski resort and Diamond Lake Nordic skiing area, on Sunday and Monday.

Klamath Falls was the last stop on the team’s 21-day tour of the five U.S. cities in the running as the U.S. entry for the 1998 Winter Games.