ABSTRACT
The International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Agenda 2020 and The New Norm documents now affect how potential host regions bid for and organize the Olympic (Winter) Games. Given this new reality, this chapter analyzes the planning and management of the Olympic Games throughout its basic timeline, which moves from bidding to planning, implementation, and wrap-up. In the bidding phase, I examine reasons for bidding, problems associated with bidding today, the IOC’s new bid process, and key bid success factors. In the planning mode, I review leadership aspects, the organizing committee’s structure, as well as project, financial, human resource and stakeholder management. In the implementation mode, I present different functional areas critical to Games-time success. In the wrap-up mode, I review key tasks to do before the organizing committee ceases to exist. I conclude the chapter with some reflections on the overall topic.
