Today not only begins the 20th Winter Olympics Games in Turin, but also speculation on where the next Winter Games will be held. Vancouver has already been selected for 2010 (get your tickets now), but the location for 2014 is still up in the air.
With this in mind, Nick Kaye of the New York Times looks deep into his crystal ball to explore those venues being considered for the 22nd Games. I was happy to discover that four of the seven locations are surprisingly in the former Eastern Bloc; Almaty, Kazakhstan, Borjomi, Georgia, Sochi, Russia and Sofia, Bulgaria.
Kaye’s short article introduces the reader to these winter playgrounds that are very well known in their home countries, but rather unheard of anywhere else. He then weighs the pros and cons of each location-such as no W Hotel in Borjomi.
Although Kaye doesn’t come right out and say it, I got the impression he feels most of these former commie resorts are going to be long shots and that Western darling Salzburg, Austria may get the eventual nod.