Celebrations Innsbruck Act III

Linking Past, Present and Future 

The 1964 Games put Innsbruck/tirol on to the international map and since then has helped tourism and further sports development. This legacy was explained and recalled during the celebrations. During the event, Innsbruck-tirol Sport tried to focus and highlight for instance what infrastructures were put in place as an outcome of hosting the Games, for instance: Olympic Villages, bridges, Media Centre etc.

Olympic facilities were clearly highlighted as in-use venues. Innsbruck is considered as world leader in the reuse of sport facilities. Speed skating ring, luge-bobsleigh-skeleton track as well as Nordic and Alpine ski sites are all in active use, as they have always been.

Innsbruck strategically welcomes international sport events, with a special focus on junior classes, which is showing a strong commitment to upcoming athletes and sports as well as sustainability of Olympic sports facilities (Winter Universiade in 2005, Youth Olympic Games in 2012, International Children’s Games in 2016, and a series of international winter sports competitions).

A historical moment in the spotlight

Luge was first introduced in the 1964 Olympic Games. To echo this “Olympic first”, Innsbruck hosted the Junior Luge World Championship during the 50^th anniversary Celebrations. It offered a nice parallel with the past and a projection into the future, highlighting the performance of young athletes.

Zoom on an (extra)ordinary story

Alois Lugger is one of the only mayors, if not the only one, who organised the Olympic Games twice. He was Mayor of Innsbruck from 1956 to 1983 and he was given the nickname of “Olympic Luis”!

The January 29, 2014 celebration took place on Alois-Lugger Platz, where the Olympic Village is located. A bust with a memorial plaque has been inaugurated in 2010.

Key Challenges

Managing logistics and timing

The 50th Anniversary programme involved a significant amount of stakeholders, including many political bodies. This meant that gathering input, obtaining approval and collecting feedback from interested parties was often a lengthy and complicated process. On top of this, the event programme was highly ambitious with a huge number of sporting, cultural and educational events scheduled over a short period. These events were all in addition to those that take place over this peak period for the City during a normal year.

It was critical that stakeholders were engaged from the outset and that there was constant communication between them and the programme organisers. Early and meticulous planning was prioritized in order to ensure that all events went off without any conflict or issues.

Accessing information

Despite hosting the YOG as recently as 2012, it had been some time since Innsbruck hosted their first and even their second Games. Those were different times and media and other pieces of information were not as widespread as they are today. It was also not as clear back then as to who owned what rights when it came to this material. It was always the plan to include old footage of the Games in the promotional material in order to highlight the lasting power of the event as well as the transformative effect it had on the City.

Evaluation

The evaluation process was specifically linked to the goals of the programme. Public awareness and perception was monitored via the level of media coverage received and individual feedback from the various stakeholders involved was obtained and analysed.

Replicability

Combining the Activities with current Olympic Games – as for public viewing initiatives and a “welcome home party” for the current athletes seems to be a replicable and rewarding initiative with national TV and press interested alike.