If the IOC’s tight timelines create problems for France, Sweden and Switzerland, well-prepared Utah may be asked to step in.
Julie Jag, Salt Lake Tribune, Oct. 16, 2023
Salt Lake City now stands alone as a candidate to host the 2034 Olympic Games. Two days after the International Olympic Committee’s executive board proposed awarding both the 2030 and 2034 Winter Olympics at the same time, it was revealed Sunday that Salt Lake is the only site vying to host in 2034. Fraser Bullock, the president and CEO of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games, told The Salt Lake Tribune he had an inkling his group was the only one. Still, he was glad to hear the revelation from Karl Stoss, the chair of the IOC’s Future Host Commission. “It was everything we could have hoped for,” Bullock said. “It’s a very positive development for Utah.” Sweden, Switzerland and France are contending for the 2030 Games. As opposed to Salt Lake, which has been planning its bid for more than a decade, all three launched their bids earlier this year. They stepped forward after the IOC postponed advancing any country to the “targeted dialogue” stage — where contracts can be signed — for that edition when bids by both Vancouver, Canada, and Sapporo, Japan, hit stumbling blocks. Vancouver pulled its bid for 2030 earlier this year. Sapporo shut down its bid for 2030 earlier this month but had been rumored to be interested in hosting in 2034. That is apparently not the case. “We got also signals from other interested NOCs [National Olympic Committees],” Stoss said, “and they would like to stay in a dialogue with us and be committed to hosting a future edition beyond 2034.” The timeline for the dual award has quickly become very tight. The Future Host Commission will submit its choices for both editions of the Winter Games by early November. Those won’t necessarily be the final selections, however, as the commission can put forward more than one candidate for each Olympics, IOC President Thomas Bach said Friday in a press conference. Also next month, each of the four sites will make a virtual presentation to the IOC’s executive board. Bullock said Salt Lake City’s is scheduled for the week of Nov. 20. More …