(ATR) Sapporo is still officially in the running to host the 2026 Winter Games but it appears the Japanese city is ready to concentrate instead on a 2030 bid.
According to multiple reports in Japanese media, Sapporo officials have told the Japanese Olympic Committee that the city is considering revising its bid and has unofficially indicated to the JOC that it wishes to bid for 2030 rather than 2026.
The JOC, in a statement to Around the Rings, would only say that it "has not received any official information regarding the matter reported by the Japanese media, from Sapporo City at the moment".
The use of the words "official" and "at the moment" by the JOC would seem to support the media reports that Sapporo is ready to move on to 2030.
The JOC statement to ATR did intimate that a 2030 bid was likely being discussed in some fashion.
"During the dialogue stage, we are laying out all the possibilities at working-level."
Sapporo’s director general for sport Toshiya Ishikawa told ATR in February that the 1972 Winter Games host city was amenable to hosting in either 2026 or 2030. He also admitted that convincing the IOC to award the Winter Olympics to a third straight Asian city would be a tough sell. Beijing is hosting in 2022 following on from PyeongChang earlier this year.
Despite having a bid that has strong support among all stakeholders, makes use of legacy venues from 1972 and doesn’t need a referendum, Sapporo mayor Katsuhiro Akimoto was cautious about 2026 in a statement to ATR last month. Akimoto said then that he "will have further discussions with the JOC, the Central Government, and the municipalities concerned and carefully look into the possibility of an official bid for the 2026 Games."
Sapporo is considered by many as the IOC’s security blanket in the 2026 race should the potential bids in Europe and Calgary all fail to materialize. Besides Calgary and Sapporo, the other candidates are Graz, Austria; Stockholm, Sweden; Sion, Switzerland; Cortina d"Ampezzo, Milan and Turin, Italy and Erzurum, Turkey.
The IOC executive board will decide in October which cities to put through to the final, one-year candidature phase of the bidding race.
The host city vote takes place at the IOC Session in Milan in September 2019.
Written by Gerard Farek
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