Reviving the Flame

Today, the committee emphasizes on a sustainable candidacy by using existing infrastructures,
collaborating between cantons, and building temporary installations when possible (Sion 2026 Committee,
2016). Furthermore, based on Preuss’ legacy framework, the 2026 bid proposal already unveils what can
be considered a legacy in terms of infrastructures:
Figure 7 Numbers of infrastructures for Sion 2026
Source: (Association Sion 2026, 2017)
For the competition, 19 venues are needed, from which six are already existing and will only benefit
from temporary extensions. Six other venues will be temporary and only seven new infrastructures will be
built. From these seven new buildings, only one can be considered as an OG legacy. Indeed, the last six are
already planned in the city development plan and will thus benefit from the OG only as an accelerator. The
same goes with the non-competition venues (i.e. Olympic village).
Here, one can thus see that most infrastructures are
enshrined in the city development and the OG will impact
infrastructural investment to a minimum. If we look again
at Preuss’ framework, the six planned venues are in the
Field B, which represent all long-term city development
matching with the requirements for the event. The new
infrastructures, fit in field C, which are all requirements for
Figure 8 Legacy Framework, 1st part
Source: (Sion 2026 Committee, 2016)
the events, not in the developing plan.
Furthermore, Sion 2026’ committee also desires to bring long-term legacies. While 20 years ago the
highlight was put on infrastructures as heritages, today, the bid targets more intangible legacies that must
bring positive changes to the country and for the inhabitants (Sion 2026 Committee, 2017). The
committee’s heritages of importance for the author’s communities’ legacies are: sport, tourism,
environment, human capital, culture and social domains.
Context 22