After Oslo's bid for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games collapsed last month, organisers accused the IOC of making "pompous" demands in a 7,000-page dossier. 

Among these was an insistence that IOC bosses meet the King of Norway before the Opening Ceremony, with a cocktail reception afterwards.

Sir Craig, chair of the IOC Evaluation Commission for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics awarded to Tokyo, claimed the demands described were not as such, however, he appreciates that the concerns raised will need to be addressed. 

"Quite clearly, if people believe that we're making unnecessary demands in hundreds of pages of comment, then we need to change the presentation," said Sir Craig at the Host City: Bid to Win conference here today. 

"We could say, 'This is the accumulated wisdom of many previous events for your information'.

"I have to say, having chaired the last Evaluation Commission, I still think that the IOC process is the gold standard.

"I think it's the best selection process.

"I think it's treated very seriously.

"If, however, it's not attracting sufficient interest then I think it's entirely proper for the IOC to sit down and look at it."

Sir Craig Reedie (left) believes the International Olympic Committee has been suffering from a communications gap with bidding cities ©Host City












President of the Swedish Olympic Committee, Stefan Lindeberg, who also spoke at the conference, admitted there was a breakdown in communication with the IOC during Stockholm's bid for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. 

"The public has to understand the costs and the risks," he said.

"The process needs to be transparent and this needs to be communicated much earlier in the bidding process.

"We want much more cooperation from the IOC.  

"We want a situation where we start with a discussion about our city, our legacy, what we want from the Games then work with the IOC to create a Host City contract that we understand, not something that is imposed on us."

Sweden's capital city dropped out of the race to host the Games in January after failing to secure the backing of its council. 

But Lindeberg said things may have been different had the IOC provided a clearer statement on exactly what it means to bid. 

"If we could do it again our answer would be yes," he added. 

Stefan Lindeberg (centre), President of the Swedish Olympic Committee, spoke of a breakdown in communication with the IOC ©Host City



Sir Craig, the chairman of the British Olympic Association when London bid successfully for the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, claimed the complexity of the Host City contracts was born out of questions asked by Australia when organising Sydney 2000, which brought about a "transfer of knowledge".

"What the IOC has done is, they've gone from a situation where the Host City contract might have been one piece of paper, which said please organise the Games and let us know how you get on, to a very, very complex and very detailed list of pieces of information," he said.

When asked about the fall-out with Norway, Sir Craige expressed his disappointment given the country's successful hosting of the 1994 Winter Olympic Games in Lillehammer. 

"It's Norway's call, I'm very sorry they pulled out," he said. 

"I remember Lillehammer, which I think by popular consent was the best Winter Games that there has ever been.

"It was marvellous.

"It would have been wonderful to have done it again and a lot of it would have been in the Lillehammer area.

"I'm sorry they pulled out. 

"The dust up thereafter in the media produced good copy but it wasn't particularly helpful either to the IOC or with respect to the people of Norway."

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