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France and USA Confirmed as 2030 & 2034 Winter Olympic Hosts

Published : 25-Jul-2024 09:31

The French Alps and Utah have been conformed as hosts of the next two Winter Olympics & Paralympics after Italy hosts the 2026 Games at an IOC meeting ahead of the start of the Paris 2024 Summer Games tomorrow.

The two bids had previously been confirmed as the most likely hosts so the IOC confirmation this week is something of a rubber stamp.

The decision means that at least the next three Winter Olympics and Paralympics will be in "the West" after the previous three Games took place in Russia, South Korea and China.

The announcement of the 2034 hosts a decade ahead of Utah hosting is also unprecedented but comes at the end of a period of soul searching by the IOC who have had issues in recent years with few countries submitting bids any more with some of the few that have subsequently pulling out and reports that climate change will mean fewer and fewer locations will e able to reliably host the Games as the century progresses. The organisation is hoping there will now be some stability moving forwards.

The 2030 French Winter Olympics almost four decades on from hosting the Albertville Games in 1992, the last time they were in France, will see some of the venues reused, including La Plagne's bobsleigh run and ski jumps at Courchevel. However a new Haute Savoie Zone will see cross-country skiing staged at La Clusaz and biathlon at neighbouring Le Grand Bornand. Alpine skiing will be at Courchevel, Méribel, following on from their successful hosting of the Alpine Skiing World Championships last year and freestyle skiing and snowboarding will be staged at Serre Chevalier and Montgenèvre.

For the 2034 Games Utah is also set to reuse many of the venues that were used the last time the Games were staged in the USA in 2002.

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