Special message – Olympics in Zakopane?
In autumn 1998 r. Zakopane lived its great dream, to be hailed in the world as the site of the Winter Olympics of 2006 r. Zakopane and Krakow have been trying to organize the Games for several years. Proponents of the idea, including President Kwasniewski and the Mayor of Zakopane Adam Bachleda Curuś, they see a great opportunity for the region. Modern sports facilities will not only be built, but the roads will also improve, tourist base, profits will flow and prestige will increase. Poland and Zakopane will arise. Olympic opponents, among others, famous Polish writers, intellectuals and environmentalists, they think, that a great dream about the Olympics may turn into a great nightmare for the unique nature of the Tatra Mountains and the entire cultural specificity of the region.
So in November 1998 r. a special commission on behalf of the IOC wandered along the streets of Zakopane decorated with flags with the words "Candidate City", to evaluate, is the capital of the Polish Podhale region suitable for hosting the Games?. Apart from delights expressed rather moderately, The guests also participated in a two-hour contemplation of the traffic jam in Zakopianka.
Waiting for the IOC's verdict, Polish organizers prepared plans and concepts for possible Games:
– a spatial and urban concept for the development of the region was developed, where, apart from many other matters, the expansion and modernization of the unfortunate Zakopianka is taken into account,
– a plan for the arrangement of hotel facilities was developed, congress, sports,
– a concept for the development of a telecommunications network was developed, etc..
A plan of accompanying events and a ZIO promotion program have been prepared 2006.
Ordinary people from the Tatra Mountains are divided in their opinions. Some want the Olympics, because he sees it as an opportunity for the development of Zakopane with 30,000 inhabitants, which, like other cities in Poland, wants to flourish, earn, exist and be proud.
Others see an ambitious vision as a threat: trampling the Tatra Mountains with their tarnished fauna and flora, flooding the home region with even greater commercialism, Zakopane's loss of that remnant of the soul that has for years preserved the nation's memory of Witkacy, To the tail, Zaruskim, Kasprowicz and the knights sleeping at Giewont.
Will there be an Olympics in Zakopane? – time will tell.