Olympiazentrum
A new project aims to bring together the best minds in Swiss sport
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Top Swiss sport wants to get fit for the future and for major international events and is planning an Olympic center. You also look at countries like Norway or Austria.
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The exchange across sports boundaries – as here between Roger Federer and Nicola Spirig – is a core element of the new Swiss Olympic Center.
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It is the testament of a failed love. When planning an Olympic candidacy, one also ponders the legacy of such games. If the implementation of the biggest sporting event costs a gigantic amount, then it should also have a corresponding effect and generate value.
One such value of the ultimately unsuccessful Olympic candidacy “Sion 2026” is the concept of an Olympic center. An idea that goes beyond what the national sports center Magglingen has embodied as the Rütli oath of Swiss sports carved in stone for 75 years.
The umbrella organization Swiss Olympic has appointed Ralph Stöckli, the Olympic representative in the association, to manage the project. In developing the strategy, he receives support from the EHSM’s Sportökonomie resort and from Hippolyt Kempf, the long-running idea of sparking ideas on the domestic sports map.
Ralph Stöckli says that you don’t have to build such an Olympic center from scratch. Rather, it is the idea that is supposed to flourish. The networking of athletic competence. The permanent exchange of the brightest minds and the best athletes in the country. Added value through synergies.
“In terms of infrastructure, there is an incredible amount of excitement going on right now – the expansion in Magglingen and Tenero, the OYM in Cham, the Sportcampus Ost initiative or the campus at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the University of Lausanne,” says Stöckli. But how can the individual projects stimulate each other?
An exchange beyond the sports
The goal of the Olympic Center is clear. Swiss sport wants to be internationally competitive in the long term. On the other hand, one compares oneself internationally when developing the concept. In the first phase, the focus was on France, Germany or Austria, where networks of Olympic centers exist. Also exciting is the private initiative of a cross-sport performance center with the support of Red Bull in Austria.
And of course you look at Norway. After all, the country has lifted itself in the medal table of the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver since 2010 from 4th place (23 medals) to 2nd place in Sochi in 2014 (26) to the top in Pyeongchang in 2018 (39).
The “Olympiatoppen” in Oslo as the grail of Norwegian sporting success is already legendary. Ralph Stöckli says it is the incredibly relaxed atmosphere around this facility that is fascinating. And the simplicity. The center resembles a wooden chalet, the exchange is just as uncomplicated and perhaps that is why it is more efficient across all sports than anywhere else.
As admiring as the Swiss view of Scandinavia may be, they don’t just want to copy a different path, but rather develop a Swiss model. “Take a look and learn” was the motto for Stöckli and Kempf’s visits to institutions abroad. For the Swiss Olympic boss, thinking outside the box is also central. Networks outside of sport are also being targeted in order to identify and generate added value and innovation.
Better training on the doorstep
The Swiss Olympic Center is currently in the initialization phase. This includes the development of variants and a feasibility study. In September 2021, the Executive Council of Swiss Olympic is to decide on the best way forward. This is followed by detailed planning as part of the concept phase.
Ralph Stöckli says that it is absolutely essential to “set up the locations of the Swiss Olympic Center in such a way that the best in their field can meet and exchange ideas”. The time is ripe for such a project, which he expects to have great motivation and impact – a real boost.
From the point of view of the Swiss Olympic boss, the consequences of Corona also require sport to prepare for the future. The trend clearly points towards less travel. This is one of the reasons why investments must be made in better training opportunities in the vicinity. Ralph Stöckli is absolutely convinced of the idea: “Top Swiss sport needs a home”.
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