IOC Puts Olympic Winter Games 2030 Venue Announcement On Hold

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board (EB) heard today (6 December 2022) a comprehensive report from the Future Host Commission for the Olympic Winter Games, under the leadership of IOC Member Octavian Morariu.

This led to a wider discussion on climate change, sustainable winter sport, and future opportunities and challenges.

There are three interested parties for the 2030 Winter Olympics with Salt Lake City, Sapporo and Vancouver  confirmed as bids. However in October 2022, the British Columbia government said it would not support a Vancouver bid, a major setback, though organizers did not say that decision ended the bid. All three cities are attractive as past Winter Games hosts with existing venues.

The Commission, building on Olympic Agenda 2020 and 2020+5, outlined a number of proposals and potential challenges around hosting the Olympic Winter Games, which could have an impact on future elections, including:

• The preliminary results of leading academic research, showing a potential reduction in the number of climate-reliable hosts
• Ongoing discussions by the Winter Sports Federations around adjustments that have already started to be made to their event calendars and potential new competition formats
• The idea of rotating the Olympic Winter Games within a pool of hosts
• To ensure climate reliability, a proposal that hosts would need to show average minimum temperatures of below zero degrees for snow competition venues at the time of the Games over a 10-year period.

Upon the request of the Commission, the EB decided to give the Commission more time to study all these factors and opportunities to make the best possible decisions about future hosting.

It will also enable the Commission to further consult with the Interested Parties, International Federations, athletes, winter sports industry experts and the International Paralympic Committee. This will assist in providing a clearer picture for the IOC to make a sound decision for the host of the Olympic Winter Games 2030.

This means that the IOC is no longer targeting a 2030 host election at the 140th IOC Session in 2023. The three Interested Parties in Continuous Dialogue have been informed today about these discussions.

Mr Morariu said: “The new, flexible approach to electing Olympic hosts was designed so the IOC could respond swiftly and effectively to ever-changing global circumstances, for the benefit of the athletes, all Olympic Games participants and the whole sports movement.”

There was also a discussion about a double award for 2030 and 2034, to create stability for winter sports and the Olympic Winter Games. No conclusion was reached, since this needs more exploration.