Olympia
The IOC leadership plans to host France for the 2030 Winter Games. The next edition of the Winter Olympic spectacle is scheduled to take place in Salt Lake City in 2034. This was recommended by the executive board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) headed by President Thomas Bach on Wednesday at a meeting in Paris.
29.11.2023 19.05
Online since today, 7:05 p.m
France, which entered the race with a group of former winter hosts Chamonix (1924), Grenoble (1968) and Albertville (1992) as well as Nice, prevailed against Sweden and Switzerland. The Swiss should get preferential rights for the 2038 Winter Games if they apply again. Salt Lake City in the USA for 2034 was all but set before the three-day meeting of the IOC Executive Committee.
The “targeted dialogue” will now begin with the applicants in accordance with the IOC’s new selection process with preferred hosts. In this phase, negotiations will only be held with these candidates; the Olympic concept should be brought to final maturity. Next year, the IOC General Assembly will award the final award for the 2030 and 2034 Winter Games. The IOC session had already decided on a double award in October.
APA/AFP/Franck Fife In Paris, the IOC leadership recommended France as host for the 2030 Winter Games and the USA for 2034
Cancellations put the IOC in trouble
Actually, the host for 2030 should have been decided at the IOC meeting in Mumbai in October. But potential favorites had stopped their efforts and thus put the IOC in trouble. Sapporo, Japan, withdrew its application due to the turmoil surrounding the corruption scandal surrounding the Summer Games in Tokyo. Vancouver received no guarantees of public funding. Salt Lake City was reluctant to enter the race for 2030 because the US Summer Games are already taking place in Los Angeles in 2028.
The IOC recently encouraged other interested parties to make an attempt for 2030. The Swiss sports parliament had only approved an application the previous week. In France and Sweden, the Olympic projects have also overcome crucial hurdles on the way to an application in recent weeks.
Winter games are becoming a problem area
The next Winter Games are scheduled for 2026 in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo in Italy. In the long term, however, the winter spectacle is a problem area for the IOC due to climate change. According to researchers’ calculations, only ten countries will still have enough snow and ice for the Winter Olympics after 2040. “We need to address this dramatic impact of climate change on the Winter Games very quickly,” said Bach.
Both a change in the competition program and a rotation system among the organizers are being considered. Winter Games could then only take place alternately in a few places with existing competition venues and guaranteed frosty weather.
