Engaged in a feasibility study aimed at defining the conditions for a possible candidacy to organize the Winter Games, Switzerland is continuing its reflection by focusing both on the strengths of its territory and on the scope of the reforms carried out in recent years by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Opening ceremony of the Lausanne 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games at the Vaudoise arena, January 09, 2020 (Credits – IOC / Christophe Moratal)
In a pragmatic way, and taking into account the past failures that have marked its history, Swiss Olympic began in March 2023 a reflection concerning the possible implementation of a candidacy for a next edition of the Winter Games.
Without targeting any predetermined deadline and without dividing the territorial perimeter either, the Swiss Olympic Committee thus wished to redefine the conditions for setting up such a company.
Today, halfway through the feasibility study, the body has nevertheless lifted the veil on certain criteria which have been analyzed up to now and which lead to an initial observation, namely the fact that a candidacy would not be a city in the traditional sense of “Host City”but more of the territory as a whole around an innovative concept of “Host Country”.
In recent weeks, the idea of an alliance of the Townships had already been put forward. This time, Swiss Olympic goes further and confirms the prospect of a candidacy designed for the whole of Switzerland.
As the body clarified in a press release published early in the morning, this Sunday, August 13, 2023:
Swiss Olympic and the Winter Sports Federations have already identified several important conditions for this vision of the Olympic and Paralympic Games to become a reality: in Switzerland, no city (“Host City”) or region comes online account alone.
Instead, Switzerland would give its name as host country to the 203X Winter Olympics and Paralympics – and competition venues would be spread across the territory.
Switzerland would thus become the first “Host Country” in Olympic history..
Ruth Wipfli Steinegger, President of the Steering Committee of the feasibility study for a possible Olympic and Paralympic candidacy of Switzerland (Credits – Swiss Olympic)
To perfect this concept, the Swiss body intends in particular to rely on the expertise acquired by the country in the regular organization of World Championships in the various sports and disciplines included in the program of the Winter Games.
In this sense, Swiss Olympic cites as examples the Worlds of bobsleigh / skeleton in 2023, men’s curling in 2024, biathlon in 2025, snowboard / freestyle skiing in 2025 still, but still men’s ice hockey in 2026, and alpine skiing in 2027, not to mention the candidatures for the World Championships in ski mountaineering in 2025 – additional sport to the Milan-Cortina Games 2026 – and those of figure skating in 2027.
So many events which contribute and will contribute to making Switzerland what the National Olympic Committee calls a “World Winter Sports Hub”.
Thanks to these announced deadlines, and in the light of the previous planetary meetings organized in Switzerland in recent years, including the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) Lausanne 2020, the country as a whole could claim to host Games of 2030, 2034 or 2038.
These three Olympic years are moreover put forward as possible horizon lines by Swiss Olympic, which now believes that a bid can be developed without having to undertake major works for the development of sports venues or infrastructure for the accommodation for athletes in particular.
On this specific point, the authority thus evokes the absence of construction of a large Athletes’ Village in order to concentrate, conversely, on “olympic hubs” which would mobilize accommodation facilities already existing on the territory according to the planned location of the different sports and the contingents of participants.
Opening ceremony of the Lausanne 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games at the Vaudoise arena, January 09, 2020 (Credits – IOC / Christophe Moratal)
By analyzing the conditions for a new candidacy in this way, Swiss Olympic seems in any case to have integrated the lessons of previous attempts which, both on the international scene and in the face of public opinion, did not succeed in convincing despite sometimes interesting patterns.
Also, on the basis of these failures and through a renewed vision of the Games, the body considers that for 13 of the 14 current Olympic winter sportsSwitzerland will be able to have adequate infrastructure by the end of the decade, with the exception of speed skating.
For this sport, however, the use of an existing site on the European continent is not excluded. It is even at the heart of ongoing discussions, on the model of what Switzerland had achieved with France with the Lausanne 2020 YOG.
This therefore suggests a possible alliance with Italy which – although providing for the establishment of a temporary infrastructure at the Parc des Expositions de la Milan fair in Milan for the 2026 Olympic Games – also has a site inherited from the edition of the 2006 Winter Games in Turin. In recent months, the city of Piedmont had thus tried to hang on to the train of the Games, without the stakeholders in the Milan-Cortina 2026 project providing a favorable response. A candidacy from Switzerland could, however, allow Turin to dream of being a destination for the Winter Games again.
The possible association with another country would also meet the IOC’s economic and sustainable requirement to favor existing or temporary sites instead of permanent facilities to be built which, in the past, have sometimes been transformed into “white elephants” for the Host Cities.
(Credits – Crans Montana)
Be that as it may, the Swiss feasibility study will still continue until the fall of 2023, ultimately following the strategy adopted by all the official or unofficial candidatures mentioned so far with regard to the provisional timetable put forward by the IOC. , which currently bases its approach on the principle of two complementary phases, first with a dialogue “continu” with the contenders, and then a dialogue “target” with one or more potential Hosts.
Several points remain to be clarified, and not the least.
In fact, Swiss Olympic must continue its discussions with the institutional actors, in the sporting field of course, and in the political sphere as well, in particular in order to measure the degree of approval of a possible candidature at the level of the Cantons and the communes which could, in finebe called upon to host Olympic and Paralympic competitions.
Popular support will also be a determining factor in determining whether or not to establish a future candidacy, with the citizens’ votes held so far in the country having led to the abandonment of projects for the Games, the latest examples being those of Graubünden and Zion for 2026.
In addition, Swiss Olympic will also have to define the financial framework for the organization of the Games in Switzerland, with the idea in particular of soliciting private funds to limit recourse to public funds as much as possible, again with a dual concern for approval of the authorities and satisfaction of public opinion.
On the basis of these discussions and this work, the conclusions of the feasibility study will be submitted to the Executive Board of Swiss Olympic, before being presented to the Parliament of Sport, the two Swiss sports authorities then having to decide on whether or not to continue the project in October 2023.
The Olympic rings in front of Olympic House in Lausanne, Switzerland (Credits – IOC / Christophe Moratal)
Regarding the IOC, the institution with the five rings should follow a precise timetable before selecting the Future Host for 2030, with potentially the simultaneous announcement of the Host of the 2034 Olympics.
Because in accordance with the reforms undertaken, the IOC is no longer limited to a period of seven years between the designation of the organizer and the actual holding of the Games. Above all, it is now interested in choosing a Host who is in tune with the new Olympic philosophy and who can therefore respond to the organization of more virtuous Games, with an alignment of the planets likely to satisfy both the IOC and the territory. organizer of the planetary event. In other words, choosing the right organizer and the right time.
As a result, the IOC Executive Board will meet on October 12 and 13 to discuss the state of the forces present and to possibly decide on the principle of double allocation of the Games of 2030 and 2034, as was undertaken by the CIO in July 2017 with Paris 2024 and LA 2028.
Shortly after, the 140th IOC Session will bring together all the members of the institution in Bombay (India) between October 15 and 17, 2023. The question of the Winter Games will then once again be at the heart of the discussions, knowing that this Session should initially have been that of the attribution of the 2030 edition before the IOC reversed the table of its own process.
Subsequently, between the end of November and the beginning of December 2023, the IOC Executive Board would be likely – based on the recommendations of the Future Host Commission – to move towards a targeted dialogue, in other words a direct phase of discussions with one or more several suitors.
Barring further upheaval, it will then be necessary to wait until 2024 for the Olympic institution to officially designate the Host of the 2030 Olympics and, possibly, that of 2034.
A time planned in Paris, on the sidelines of the next edition of the Summer Games, the Elective Session should finally be held in another city or at a distance, France having also recently expressed its interest in hosting Winter Games.
