The race to the 2030 Winter Games: the IOC revealed that there are six candidates amidst many questions

The 2030 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games are still looking for its host. At this point, the process should be advanced and the three cities with possibilities of organizing them should be known by now, but the decision was postponed and everything suggests that only in Paris 2024 will the International Olympic Committee (IOC) inform the host.

In the last few hours, Christophe Dubi, executive director of the Olympic Games of the International Olympic Committee, revealed that there are six countries interested in having the 2030 Olympic Games.

“We must respect the confidentiality of interested parties. They are clearly interested in a future edition of the Games and they are in continuous dialogue because we are discussing strategic elements,” said Dubi. And he acknowledged: “You know all of them, except for a sixth country that has not yet declared itself but is talking to us. The number is really six.”

Sapporo (Japan), Salt Lake City (United States) and Vancouver (Canada) were the main candidates to host the 2030 Winter Games and the last countries to join were Switzerland and Sweden. The sixth is the unknown.

The favorites were having complications during the process. Sapporo seemed to be stinging, but the Japanese city does not want to be punctuated by corruption scandals in the Tokyo 2020 organization. The citizens are not in favor of the Games and that is why it could aim for 2034, something that could also happen with Salt Lake City due to its proximity to Los Angeles 2028. Meanwhile, Vancouver’s candidacy suffered a severe setback when it did not receive support from the British Columbia government because of the high cost it would demand.

In this context, Sweden is once again dreaming of organizing the Olympic Games after losing the vote with Milano-Cortina for those that will be held in 2026. It could be accompanied by Norway, the Netherlands or Latvia.

“Our preliminary study shows that Sweden has the opportunity, knowledge and will to organize the Winter Games in 2030,” said the president of the Swedish Olympic Committee, Hans von Uthmann, who announced that “a phase of dialogue” will begin with the IOC: “He has welcomed us to the next phase.”

Switzerland, for its part, seems to be getting back into a race from which it seemed to have fallen when the joint organization with France and Italy fell due to Chamonix’s refusal. “We want to, we can, but we will only enter into a process when we’re ready. But the fact that the IOC has changed significant elements in the application process is a big plus point,” said Swiss Olympic President Jürg Stahl.

The 2020 Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne was a positive test for Switzerland, although a lot will depend on the referendum on the population, which on other occasions had a negative response.

One of the concerns of the International Olympic Committee, which also influenced the decision to postpone the decision to choose the venue, which was scheduled for this year, is the climate factor.

The last Games held in Beijing 2022 were held on artificial snow and the intention is to “guarantee temperatures below zero degrees at the venues of snow competitions”. And, in this sense, the IOC explained that “the preliminary results of outstanding academic research show a possible reduction in the number of climate-reliable hosts”.

While waiting to learn about this sixth alternative, the race to the 2030 Games is still open and the winner would only be announced in Paris 2024. And it is not ruled out that the IOC may also choose the city that will host the Winter Games in 2034.