IOC Announce France & Salt Lake City as Preferred Candidates for 2030 & 2034 Winter Olympics

30th November 2023

The French bid is preferred to ones from Switzerland and Stockholm in Sweden, though Switzerland has been told the IOC would now enter so-called ‘privileged dialogue’ for a bid for the 2038 Games.

We earlier reported on the bids for 2020 and what each host was offering.

• Who will stage the 2030 Winter Olympics?

“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 in July in Paris,” said the IOC in a statement.

This is what the French bid looks like:

The Games would centre around Nice on the Mediterranean coast, and the Alps to the north.

Much of the women’s alpine skiing would take place in Meribel, with the men competing in neighbouring Courchevel.

The slalom would take place in Val d’Isère.

Bobsleigh, luge and skeleton would happen at La Plagne.

Cross country skiing in La Clusaz and biathlon in Le Grand Bornand.

The ski jumping and Nordic combined would take place in Courchevel.

Briançonnais would include ski cross, snowboard cross, snowboard and freestyle skiing.

Figure skating, ice hockey, short-track speed skating and curling would take place in Nice.

The Athletes Village would be in Nice, along with the international broadcasting centre and the area would likely stage the closing ceremony.

“Sober, economical Games, where we will celebrate sport and our mountains,” said the French Olympic committee president David Lappartient.

“The most beautiful mountains in the world, designed for the Olympic Games.”

Meribel, France. Image © PlanetSKI

Following a recommendation by the IOC’s Future Host Commission for the Olympic Winter Games, the IOC Executive Board (EB) today invited @FranceOlympique and the USOPC (@USOPC_News) into Targeted Dialogues for 2030 and 2034 respectively.

Full story: https://t.co/L7vnbGY3LG pic.twitter.com/CceL4fvD8s

— IOC MEDIA (@iocmedia) November 29, 2023

“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,” said head of the IOC’s future host commission Karl Stoss to the AFP news agency.

“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.”

France has hosted the Winter Olympics three times:

• Chamonix in 1924
• Grenoble in 1968
• Albertville in 1992.

Salt Lake City hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Plaque marking the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. Image © PlanetSKI

Big news this morning out of Salt Lake City! The International Olympic Committee officially named Salt Lake City as the preferred city for the Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games for 2034🇺🇸🏅

Read more ⤵https://t.co/NldvMMQRL1

— U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team (@usskiteam) November 29, 2023

The Swiss bid for 2030 was unique in Olympic history as it was a bid from a country rather  than an individual city.

Events would have taken place across the whole country.

It would have been the first ‘host country’ in the history of the Winter Olympics.

The bid proposed a de-centralised model using existing facilities across the country, in all four language regions of Switzerland.

“Switzerland is in the fortunate position of already having practically all the necessary infrastructure – from sports facilities to accommodation to the transport network,” said the President of Swiss Ski, Urs Lehmann. .

“Let’s seize this opportunity and let’s make the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games not just an unforgettable sporting event, but a sustainable stimulus programme for Switzerland and Swiss sport.”

Switzerland hosted the Winter Olympics in 1928 and 1948 in St Moritz.