IOC announces Evaluation Commission for the Olympic Winter Games 2026

The Evaluation Commission that will assess the Candidate Cities for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games 2026 " Calgary (Canada), Milan/Cortina d'Ampezzo (Italy) and Stockholm (Sweden) " has been appointed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The Commission is formed of IOC Members and Olympic Movement representatives. Some of these were already part of the Working Group that was responsible for reporting on the feasibility of the Interested Cities that joined the Dialogue Stage of the new, two-stage Candidature Process:

Chair

Octavian MORARIU (ROU)

IOC Member; President, Rugby Europe; Member of the Coordination Commission for the XXIV Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022

IOC Members

Kristin KLOSTER AASEN (NOR)

1st Vice-President, Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports; Member of the IOC Sustainability and Legacy Commission

Hong ZHANG (CHN)

IOC Athletes’ Commission representative; Olympic champion, Sochi 2014, Speed Skating; Olympian, PyeongChang 2018, Speed Skating; Executive Board member of the Chinese Olympic Committee

Stakeholder Representatives

Roman KUMPOST (CZE)

Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) representative; Vice-President, Czech Olympic Committee

Heike GROESSWANG (GER)

Association of International Olympic Winter Sports Federations (AIOWF) representative; Secretary General, International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation (IBSF)

Marianna DAVIS (USA)

International Paralympic Committee (IPC) representative Governing Board member, IPC

LEE Hee-beom (KOR)

President, Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018

José Luis MARCO (ARG)

Member of the Coordination Commission for the XXIV Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 and XXI Olympic Winter Games Vancouver 2010; Member of the Evaluation Commissions for the Olympic Games 2012 and the Olympic Winter Games 2002, 2010 and 2014

IOC President Thomas Bach said: "The Evaluation Commission members bring with them broad experience for assessing the candidates. They will guarantee that the projects are analysed based on their alignment with the existing long-term plans of their local communities, as outlined by Olympic Agenda 2020/New Norm."

Evaluation Commission Chair Octavian Morariu added: "Olympic Agenda 2020/New Norm has already helped these three exciting candidatures achieve efficiencies in their planning. And the Commission is committed to working closely with the Cities to ensure that their projects continue to align with the principles of flexibility, legacy and sustainability."

With a shortened Candidature Stage and only a single File to be submitted, the Cities can benefit from a simple and cost-efficient process. They arrive at this stage having taken advantage of several months of non-committal dialogue with the IOC, receiving greater support, technical advice, communications assistance and materials to develop their projects.

The Candidates need to submit their Files by 11 January 2019, before the Evaluation Commission travels to the Cities in March and April 2019, when its members will be given presentations and visit proposed venues. The Commission will then prepare a report summarising and assessing the essential elements for planning and delivering successful Games. This document will be published prior to the election of the host city at the 134th IOC Session in Lausanne, Switzerland.

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