The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has taken the unprecedented step of outlining its planned Winter Olympic Games hosts for the next 15 years, much to the disappointment and annoyance of Sweden.
The French Alps and Salt Lake City, USA are in line to stage the 2030 and 2034 Games, respectively, while Switzerland is in the box seat for the 2038 edition. Sweden, which was formulating plans for the 2030 Games, has been ignored in the process.
Following a recommendation by the IOC’s Future Host Commission for the Olympic Winter Games, the Executive Board announced yesterday (Wednesday) that it has invited the French Olympic Committee (CNOSF) and the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) into ‘Targeted Dialogues’ for the 2030 and 2034 Games.
The IOC will now start more detailed discussions with the preferred hosts, led by their National Olympic Committees (NOCs), with the aim of awarding both editions at the 142nd IOC Session to be held in July in Paris.
The path to a dual award of the editions of the Winter Games following Milano Cortina 2026 was set last month as the IOC Session in Mumbai approved the principle of a double allocation by the Session in 2024, “should the appropriate conditions exist”.
The executive board made the proposal, citing concerns over climate change for its decision. Having hosts confirmed up to 2034, and now potentially 2038, would provide some certainty to the IOC, whose president Thomas Bach claimed that just 10 countries would legitimately be able to stage the Winter Olympics by 2040.
He said only 15 countries across three continents meet the criteria at present: at least 80 per cent of existing venues for snow sports and a “climate-reliable” outlook to host snow events in future decades.
Sapporo officially dropped its bid to host the 2030 Games last month, amid the lack of support given corruption scandals connected to the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games. In October 2022, British Columbia’s government announced it would no longer be supporting a bid anchored in Vancouver due to high costs and other upcoming events taking place in the Canadian province.
This left the race for the 2030 Games an all-European affair, with the French bid ultimately winning out.
France in line for 2030
French authorities this month presented their vision of a compact 2030 Games in the regions of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, with David Lappartient, president of the CNOSF, stating the IOC was “not taking any risks with us”.
News of a French Winter Olympics effort, on the back of Paris’ staging of next year’s Summer Games, first emerged in July as Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes joined forces to propose a bid which focuses on four venue hubs for the Games.
Haute-Savoie has been earmarked to host biathlon (Olympic and Paralympic) and cross-country skiing (Olympic and Paralympic); with Savoie proposed for alpine skiing (Olympic and Paralympic), ski jumping, Nordic combined, bobsleigh, skeleton and luge.
Briançonnais has been put forward for freestyle skiing (Olympic and Paralympic), snowboard cross (Olympic) and para banked slalom. Nice Côte d’Azur is set to be the venue for ice hockey (Olympic and Paralympic), figure skating, short track skating, curling (Olympic and Paralympic), and ski and snowboard cross (Olympic). Each hub will host a Games Village, as well as the necessary media infrastructure.
France has hosted the Winter Olympics on three previous occasions: in Chamonix in 1924, Grenoble in 1968 and Albertville in 1992. The IOC yesterday said the main reasons why the French Alps and CNOSF were proposed for the Targeted Dialogue phase of the revamped bidding process for the Games were as follows:
- The vision to renew the north and south Alps as winter sports destinations by transitioning to a more sustainable tourism strategy for winter sports in the context of climate change
- Alignment with Olympic Agenda 2020/Olympic Agenda 2020+5, and existing socio-economic development plans in both regions, exemplified by making maximum use of existing venues
- The concept for four venue clusters
- France’s “very good experience” in organising and hosting major international events in most Olympic winter sports, including the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Courchevel and Méribel in February this year
- The structures, laws, skills and best practices developed for Paris 2024.
The IOC also noted strong support for the bid from the private sector, public and national and regional governments. Commenting on the news, and the path forward, the CNOSF said: “The objective of this new stage will lead to presenting, during the IOC Session in 2024, a completed project for a sober, safe, responsible and inclusive Games, alongside all fully mobilised stakeholders: the athletes, all of the sports movement, the state, as well as local and economic actors.
“A stated ambition, supported by the President of the Republic, is to celebrate and initiate a new model of the Winter Games in the interest of athletes, sport, the Games and the territories.”
France, through Annecy, had bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics, but was easily defeated by PyeongChang, South Korea in a 2011 IOC session vote.
Salt Lake backed for 2034
The team behind Salt Lake City’s bid to host the Winter Games signalled its intent to shift its attention from 2030 to the 2034 event as far back as June 2022. A bid for the 2034 Games was viewed as the more likely option due to a number of factors, including the challenges that would come with the US hosting the Winter Olympics just two years after Los Angeles stages the 2028 Summer Games.
Salt Lake City hosted the Winter Olympics in 2002 and was selected by the USOPC over Denver, Colorado and Reno in Nevada as the US candidate for a future Winter Olympics back in 2018. The IOC said the main reasons why Salt Lake City-Utah and the USOPC were proposed for the Targeted Dialogue phase were:
- The vision to build on the positive legacies of Salt Lake City 2002 and increase the existing Games Legacy Fund, in order to extend the lifecycle of numerous venues and sports programmes
- Alignment with Olympic Agenda 2020/Olympic Agenda 2020+5, drawing on 100 per cent existing venues, which are well maintained thanks to the 2002 Legacy Fund
- No significant capital investment required
- The very compact masterplan, with all competition venues within one hour of the main Olympic Village in Salt Lake City
- Excellent experience within the US in organising and hosting major international events in most Olympic winter sports.
The IOC also noted strong public and government support at all levels, adding that given the studies commissioned on the potential impact of climate change on winter sports, Salt Lake City-Utah provides an opportunity to secure a traditional winter sports and “climate-reliable destination” well in advance of the Games.
IOC staying at home for 2038?
Moving back to the runners and riders for 2030, while the Swiss bid has missed out for that edition of the Games, the IOC has granted it special status by inviting it into ‘Privileged Dialogue’ for the 2038 Games.
Swiss Olympic, Switzerland’s National Olympic Committee, last week moved forward with an open bid that was focusing on either the 2030 or 2034 Games. A meeting of Sportparlaments, the senior body of Swiss Olympic, unanimously voted in favour of continuing the ‘Vision Switzerland 203x’ project.
Swiss Olympic last month shared details of a feasibility study that concluded it can stage a Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games through an innovative decentralised nationwide model that will be largely privately financed. Swiss Olympic proposed in August that Switzerland be the first host country of a Winter Games as part of ongoing studies into a bid.
Switzerland has hosted the Winter Olympics on two prior occasions, both times in St. Moritz in 1928 and 1948, respectively, and other bids have failed to gather momentum amid lack of public backing.
The IOC said the decision to invite Switzerland 203x into Privileged Dialogue is based on the “very good fundamentals” of the Swiss project, which includes interest in future Games up to 2038. During the Privileged Dialogue, the IOC will not engage in discussions with other potential hosts for the 2038 Games.
Switzerland 203x will be requested to address some of the areas of the project which still require further discussion, mainly the distribution of venues; funding strategy; guarantees; and public support.
The IOC said the Privileged Dialogue, which will last to the end of 2027 but could end earlier if the project is ready, will give “appropriate time” to Switzerland 203x for any required consultation on these and other topics, to complete all the outstanding elements.
Swiss Olympic president, Jürg Stahl, said that support from the population, political entities and business will be crucial in this phase. He added: “We were focusing on the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2030 or 2034. But especially in sport it is important to be flexible.
“We now have the opportunity to further develop our project together and are convinced that with our framework conditions, great experience and reliability, we are an excellent partner for the IOC, also with a view to 2038, in order to effectively advance the process towards a next-generation Games.”
More Swedish heartache
The news on the 2030, 2034 and 2038 Games means Sweden again misses out. It lost out to Milan-Cortina in the vote to host the 2026 Winter Olympics.
The City of Stockholm last week gave its backing to a Swedish bid for the 2030 Games that could also include assistance from Norway and Latvia.
Earlier this month, the Swedish government gave its backing to the bid, but stressed the importance of a Games concept that would be free from public funding. The municipalities of Falun, Åre and Östersund had previously pledged their support.
The Swedish Olympic Committee (SOK) pushed ahead with plans to bid for the 2030 Games following the release of a preliminary feasibility study into the proposal back in June.
Reacting to yesterday’s decision, SOK chairman Hans von Uthmann said: “I am very surprised and very disappointed. We had a vision of being able to organise the Olympics and Paralympics in a completely new way, unfortunately the IOC’s new process was not ripe for a candidacy that wanted to be sustainable, cost-effective and democratic.
“I don’t think we could have done this process any other way. I want to thank everyone who was part of this work. I also want to emphasise that we have always had a very good dialogue with both politics and business in this work.
“It was important for everyone to only move forward if we could implement Games that were democratic, sustainable and cost-effective. Now we take the good dialogue with us to strengthen Swedish elite sports instead.
“We were in no way looking to use Swedish taxpayers to finance the Games. We were clear about that towards the IOC, towards the government and towards business. We remain convinced that the Games could have been a catalyst for the whole of Sweden. Now, unfortunately, that will not be the case.”
IOC member Karl Stoss, chair of the Future Host Commission for the Olympic Winter Games, added: “What really stood out about the French Alps and Salt Lake City-Utah projects was their vision for the athlete experience, their alignment with regional and national socio-economic development plans, and their very strong support from the public and from all levels of government.
“The Commission felt strongly that the other interested parties would benefit from more time to optimise the athlete experience of their future Games, and to continue to build on their burgeoning foundations of public and political support.
“Switzerland 203x has great potential, with its project aligned with Olympic Agenda 2020+5 and the principles of sustainability, cost reduction, environmental protection and legacy.”
The Future Host Commission will now set a timeline for the Targeted Dialogues, and will report back to the EB on the outcome of these discussions, ahead of the 142nd IOC Session in Paris. If all the requirements are met, the EB can then propose a host election to the IOC Session.