Is It Finally Salt Lake City’s Turn for the Winter Games?

Salt Lake City is the favorite over three other candidates--Oestersund, Sweden; Quebec City, Canada; and Sion, Switzerland--in the International Olympic Committee’s vote Friday in Budapest, Hungary, for the site of the 2002 Winter Olympics.

But that does not inspire confidence in the bid committee from the Utah capital because the 96 voting IOC members are, collectively, anything but predictable. An example forged into the memories of the Salt Lake City bidders was their loss in 1991 by four votes to Nagano, Japan, for the 1998 Winter Olympics.

Salt Lake City might have won in 1991 if the IOC had not one year before awarded the 1996 Summer Olympics to Atlanta over runner-up Athens, Greece.

But in the four years since, the eternal flame has not been extinguished by Coca-Cola or any other commercial interests, and, for the second time, Salt Lake City received the highest marks from the IOC’s site evaluation commission.

If the IOC leans toward North America, the leading challenger will be Quebec City, which has been playing the boredom card. Bid committee members do not tire of repeating the saying, “Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow, you may be in Utah.”

But although Quebec City’s winter charm is undeniable, the province is still paying off its debt from the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, and the loss of the NHL’s Nordiques guarantees there will be no new arena for figure skating.

If the IOC is split between North America and Europe, the leading challenger will be Oestersund. The IOC was euphoric over its Scandinavian experience last year in Norway, and, in Sweden’s sixth consecutive bid--the third for Oestersund--the Swedes have improved their logistics. But they do not seem as enthusiastic as before, perhaps because King Carl XVI has hinted he prefers a Stockholm bid for a future Summer Olympics.

Sion’s geography is a liability. Small winding roads to venues spread among the Alps is too much like the 1992 site, Albertville, France. IOC members were so agitated there that President Juan Antonio Samaranch ordered them to shut up. “You voted for it,” he reminded them.