Salt Lake City Ready to Deliver 2030 Olympics Says USOPC Chief Either 2030 or 2034 Possible

The U.S. stands ready to host a Winter Olympic Games as early as 2030, if needed says the chair of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee.

“Our bid has always looked at the possibility of 2030 or 2034,” said USOPC chair Susanne Lyons at a press briefing following the latest meeting of the USOPC board.

“We will find a way to make it happen,” said Lyons about the earlier date which once might have been a shoe-in for Sapporo, Japan. But the Japanese bid for 2030 could be affected by the controversy over bribery allegations involving sponsorship deals for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Lyons says she expects talks will continue later this year between the IOC and other potential hosts. These include Salt Lake City, Vancouver and Sapporo, if it is still in the running.

She says the delay of the 2023 IOC Session in Mumbai from May to October may give other bids a chance to get their plans in shape for IOC talks. But she says the session delay has nothing to do with the IOC timetable for 2030. The IOC has pushed the session forward as the Indian Olympic Association deals with an organizational crisis.

Lyons, who spoke from Los Angeles where the IOC coordination commission for Los Angeles met this week, admitted that the 2028 Games are a complicating factor for a U.S. 2030 bid.

USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland expressed her frustration with the slow progress resolving the doping case from the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. At issue is whether the gold medal won by Russia in team figure skating will stand. The U.S. would be bumped up to gold if the Russian team is disqualified.

“It continues to be an outrageous situation,” says Hirshland who says she has been in regular contact with the U.S. skaters waiting for their medals, regardless of gold or silver.

“The bad news is there can be hearings, appeals. I think this will last a long time,” rues Hirshland. The matter is in the hands of the Court for Arbitration of Sport, which has reportedly completed its inquiry. No medal ceremony has taken place, suspended in Beijing by the IOC when word came of the doping allegation.

Lyons says the overall question about the fate of Russian athletes competing internationally is an issue that needs to be addressed as the war by Russia against Ukraine drags on. She says the IOC appears to be reaching out to federations and other sports bodies on how to handle the presence of Russian competitors. Lyons says athletes should not be the victims of political strife.

For Lyons, this meeting of the USOPC board was her penultimate after four years in the chair. Her successor, Gene Sykes, takes over in January. He was an observer at this week’s meeting and will do the same at the December board meeting.