The International Olympic Committee (IOC) wants to decide on the hosts of the 2030 and 2034 Winter Games next year with a double award. The IOC leadership will make a preparatory decision on the status of the host selection as early as November, said IOC President Thomas Bach on Friday in Mumbai. The 69-year-old referred to the “dramatic consequences of climate change” for the future awarding of Winter Games.
As a result, the IOC Olympic Games Selection Committee determined in two studies that in 2040 only ten countries will be able to safely host the snow competitions at the Winter Paralympics that take place after the Winter Games. The IOC is therefore discussing a possible rotation system for the hosts and a different composition of the competition program for the future.
“Very complex topic”
“This is a very complex issue and to address it in the right way we need a little more time,” Bach said. The IOC had already decided to postpone the election of the host for the 2030 Winter Olympics, which was scheduled to begin on Sunday in Mumbai.
Relatively few interested parties
It was only on Wednesday that the northern Japanese city of Sapporo decided not to apply for the 2030 Winter Games. The background is the bribery scandals in connection with the Olympic Games in Tokyo in the summer of 2021. Sapporo is now considering a candidacy for 2034 or later.
Vancouver had also already said goodbye to the 2030 race because it does not receive any financial aid from tax revenue. Interested Salt Lake City is betting on 2034, as the Olympics will take place in Los Angeles in the USA in 2028.
Possible candidates for 2030 could be France, Sweden and Switzerland. In the coming weeks, the selection committee will enter into a targeted dialogue with the possible hosts, said Bach. The double award could then take place at the IOC session shortly before the Summer Games in Paris in 2024. The next Winter Games will take place in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo in Italy in 2026.