The IOC should jointly award two editions of the Winter Olympics next year, those of 2030 and 2034, if the potential hosts meet all the criteria in the meantime, the members of the body meeting in Bombay decided on Sunday. This dual attribution, like the simultaneous designation in 2017 of Paris and Los Angeles for the 2024 and 2028 Summer Games, had been considered since last year and was formally approved by the 141st session.
For 2030, the French and Swiss files – whose host sites remain to be detailed – as well as the Stockholm candidacy must “finalize their feasibility studies” by the end of October, detailed Karl Stoss, president of the Commission for the future host of the Winter Olympics. In the running for several years for both editions, Salt Lake City, which has already hosted the 2002 Olympics, has for its part “made known its preference for 2034” and has no known competitor, confirmed the Austrian leader.
By aiming for entry into “targeted dialogue” from the end of November – that is to say the selection of preferential candidates – the IOC can hope to designate the two host cities in the summer of 2024, if all the technical criteria are met . The idea of the dual attribution is to offer “security to the Olympic movement in uncertain economic times”, and to ensure that the hosts will be “climatically reliable” until 2034, Karl Stoss argued to the members organisation. Because according to a report unveiled Friday by IOC President Thomas Bach, only ten countries will still be able to host the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games by 2040, compared to around fifteen today, as climate upheavals compromise the very survival of the competition.
Of the fifteen current potential hosts, Karl Stoss said on Sunday, two are located in North America, five in Asia and eight in Europe, and “the influence of climate change will primarily affect the countries of Europe”. After the 2022 Olympic Games hosted in Beijing, in a very cold region but almost devoid of natural snow, the 2026 edition will be organized in Milan-Cortina, twenty years after the 2006 Olympic Games in Turin.
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