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French Alps is chosen for the 2030 Winter Olympics, 2034 goes to Salt Lake City
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PARIS — The International Olympic Committee has voted to give the French Alps the 2030 Winter Olympics and has chosen Salt Lake City to host the 2034 Winter Olympics.
Both cities were the only candidates for each Games and comes as the IOC has struggled to find cities and countries willing to shoulder the expensive infrastructure improvements, high security costs and venue construction required by the IOC. Climate change has played a role too — especially for the Winter Games — by shrinking the number of realistic hosts.
The awarding came during an IOC meeting on Wednesday, just ahead of the start of the Paris Summer Games this week. France’s bid calls for some events to be held at ski resorts in the Alps and others, like figure skating, to be held at arenas in Nice.
French president Emmanuel Macron, who helped present the pitch, said that France — which has hosted the Winter Games three times previously — is committed to continuing the tradition.
"We are all aware of the fact that we have now to invent a new model, a sustainable one for people living in the mountain and for winter games. And this is a unique opportunity for us precisely to accelerate such an agenda," he said.
With less than 5 1/2 years until the French Alps Opening Ceremony, the awarding marks the shortest preparation time for any recent Olympics.
Macron also emphasized his country’s support for the 2030 Winter Games, and a financial guarantee. But the bid is still conditional and must be approved by the next French prime minister.
At the same IOC meeting, members approved Salt Lake City’s bid to host the Winter Games 32 years after the Utah capital first hosted the event.
The 2002 Games were roiled by a bribery scandal involving several IOC board members facing accusations that they accepted generous cash payments and gifts. The scandal brought to light a decades-long bribery problem by IOC members, forced sweeping reforms to the bidding process, and apparently did not sully Salt Lake City's hosting reputation.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, who was in Paris, said the nostalgia of the 2002 Games in Utah remains strong in the state. The delegation estimates that more than half of Utahns in 2034 will not have experienced the Olympics firsthand.
"That memory just resonates with people, and they want to bring it back," the governor said.
Ahead of the vote, there was an orchestrated effort during the meeting to speak out against the United States and its continued criticism of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). John Coates, an IOC vice president, warned that the IOC is allowed to terminate "host contracts" if WADA is "not fully respected," or if it’s hindered or undermined.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Justice Department opened a criminal probe into a sports doping scandal involving nearly two dozen elite Chinese swimmers. One focus on the probe appears to be on WADA. The agency reviewed repeated positive tests for two banned substances over a period of years by some Chinese swimmer. But the agency kept the test results secret, and the athletes were allowed to compete in 2021 at the Tokyo Summer Games.
Fraser Bullock, the current president of Utah's Olympic bid who also helped lead the city’s 2002 bid effort, said the delegation is satisfied with the addition of a clause noting the possible revocation of the contract if they're too hard on WADA.
"We knew something had to be done to address this to bring comfort to IOC members, so I thought it was a very wise move to be able to do that," he said. “We’re very comfortable with that language, and we support it 100%."
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