The Great Civilisation Is Just Around The Corner

Parterre

3689597402_d5bea4e3fd_z.jpg

The Shah of Iran was an avid skier. It projected an athletic image, seemed in line with the high class pursuits of the European elite, and allowed him to hobnob in the Alps.
Furthermore, he actually enjoyed the sport. ​
Arnold Glewitz, The White Games: A History of the Winter Olympics (HarperCollins, New York, 2010)

In August 1974, the International Olympic Committee was in what seemed to be an intractable bind. Vancouver, which had been shortlisted alongside the New York village of Lake Placid as a finalist for the right to host the 1980 Winter Olympics, had seen its bid for the games collapse as its provincial and municipal government simply did not want to host them. The bid committee had attempted to soldier on despite the government’s opposition, but corporate backers quickly vanished and Vancouver formally withdrew from consideration, leaving Lake Placid as the sole bidder.

The problem with Lake Placid was that the IOC, however, did not want them to host to host the games. In 1972, Denver, which had been given the right to host the 1976 Winter Olympics, announced that it was unable to actually go through with the games since the city’s residents had voted against funding them, and the IOC had to scramble to find another venue—eventually Innsbruck. Whistler, also in British Columbia, had been offered them first, but the government then had also rejected the offer. Thus, the IOC, left stinging from the rebukes of fickle Americans, was ill disposed to offer the games to another American city. Indeed, the same environmental grievances that had doomed Denver’s bid were beginning to rear their head once again; perhaps they had a point. The tiny village had hosted the Olympics once before, indeed, but that had been in 1932, when 280 participants competed. In the games prior, in Sapporo in 1972, 1130 participants had completed—the scale of the games had changed, and the “kinder, simpler games” promised by Lake Placid seemed ill-suited in light of such changes.

With this in mind, and to the chagrin of the Lake Placid committee, the IOC frantically sent out requests for further bids. None were forthcoming, and it seemed likely that Lake Placid would win by default. In September, however, Lord Killanin, President of the IOC, made a fateful (but entirely scheduled) trip to Tehran. Tehran was hosting the Asian Games, and it was an entirely perfunctory appearance at a second tier sporting event. If it was a second-tier sporting event, however, it was one that was an unqualified success. The coordination was flawless, the technology overawing, the games entirely without the fault that had plagued earlier Asian games. And, as the President would fondly recall for years to come, as he had looked upon the snow-capped peak of Mount Damavand, Iran's tallest mountain, a solution to a certain problem presented itself…

There was no great effort needed to persuade the Iranians that they ought to mount a bid for the 1980 Winter Olympics. Mohammed Reza Shah, the emperor of Iran, ever eager to launch Iran into the league of great nations, quickly became enamored with the idea of the global elite one day coming to his country to spend their winters following a spectacular Olympic show, of launching the Alborz into the same league as the Alps. Cost was to be no concern, as was any environmental protestation. Empress Farah, the Shah's wife, was also eager to see the same—if only to stop the Shah from spending a month outside the country in Switzerland, as he did every year.

A quick plan was drawn up to develop the skiing resorts of Shemshak and Tochal near Tehran for the venues. Most other infrastructures—hotels, highways, stadia—were already under construction. Thus in early October, Tehran declared that it would formally bid for the games—two weeks before the decision was due to be made. On October 13, the IOC, without conducting any visits, checking figures, or doing even perfunctory fact-finding, voted 49-31 to grant the XII Winter Olympic Games to Tehran, Iran.
 
Last edited:

Parterre

The Summer Olympics are still going to be held in Moscow. Keep in mind Winter and Summer Olympics were held in the same year until... 1994?
 

SeanPdineen

wow

Where is General Asstasari the 4 star ayallotah at this time?
He could have been a solpton style reform from the top guy HIM trusted him more than anyone except Hoydeiah.
 

SeanPdineen

big shot

He is a high raking air force general, whose brother was a modernizing mullah.
The shah refers to him as a honest broker.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top
Top