In comments that will stoke the flames just three weeks ahead of the Winter Youth Olympics in Lillehammer, Svindal believes IOC mistakes dampened enthusiasm in a nation where sport is as popular as anywhere.

"I know of no country that has as much money as Norway thanks to the oil industry," the Vancouver 2010 super-G champion told the Salzburger Nachrichten.

"So if the Norwegians say no to hosting the Olympics, the IOC has done something very, very wrong.

"Everything, actually."

Oslo was initially seen as the favourite in a six-horse race for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Games when the applicants were unveiled in 2013.

They narrowly gained enough support for the bid in a referendum held in Oslo before the start of the campaign but the Norwegian Government were forced to abandon it in the face of local and political opposition. 

It was ultimately one of three cities to make it through to the candidate stage of the contest, only to drop out in October 2014 due to a withdrawal of political support.

Beijing was ultimately awarded the Games, narrowly defeating only rival Almaty by 44 votes to 40 at the IOC Session in Kuala Lumpur last July.

It was the IOC which bore the brunt of the Norwegian opposition, particularly after a list of "pompous" demands - including providing "fruit and cakes of the season" in members' hotel rooms - were circulated in the Norwegian media.

Other instructions reportedly included a mandatory cocktail reception with the King of Norway before the Opening Ceremony, as well as the IOC President being welcomed on the runway on arrival and IOC members having a separate entrance and exit to and from the airport.

The IOC, meanwhile, blamed Oslo 2022 for the "missed opportunity", with executive director for the Olympic Games Christophe Dubi criticising the bid's leaders for failing to properly brief politicians.

"I think there are very few things in life that are as fair as sports," added Svindal, a five-time world champion currently leading the overall, downhill and super-G World Cup standings, in a separate interview with CNN.

"It is not acting or anything like that, it is 100 per cent true. 

"If the IOC has managed somehow to put a negative spin on this, which overshadows the beauty of sport and making people say, you know what, we don't want anything to do with it.

"That's sad, and something went really wrong somewhere."

The IOC's Agenda 2020 reform process, completed soon after Oslo's withdrawal at the Extraordinary IOC Sesssion in Monte Carlo in December 2014, had the primary objective of reviving interest in the Games, introducing measures such as a less regimented bidding process and a more flexible sports programme.

Both Boston and Hamburg, however, have since withdrawn bids for the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics were withdrawn after concerted opposition last year.

Boston withdrew after the city's Mayor Marty Walsh said he would not sign the Host City Contract.

Hamburg had to pull out after they failed to gain the necessary support in a referendum. 

The Winter Youth Olympic Games are due to begin on February 12 in Lillehammer - host of the last Norwegian Winter Olympics in 1994 - and are being billed as an opportunity to revive Norwegian enthusiasm.

IOC President Thomas Bach attended the whole of the 2014 summer edition in Nanjing, and is also expected to feature prominently this time around.

Svindal's fellow winter sporting superstar, eight-time Olympic biathlon champion Ole Einar Bjørndalen, is one of two Norwegian IOC members, along with Gerhard Heiberg.

Since his election at Sochi 2014, however, he has failed to attend either of the IOC Session to have taken place in Monte Carlo and Kuala Lumpur.