The 2030 and 2034 Winter Olympic hosts could be decided by next summer.
The IOC Executive Board “gave a green light” to its future host commission to pursue possibly deciding 2030 and 2034 Winter Olympic hosts at the same time, IOC President Thomas Bach said after a board meeting in India on Friday.
The IOC board plans to decide by the end of November on at least one possible bidder with which to engage in what it calls “targeted dialogue.” Under recent future host reforms, the IOC can enter targeted dialogue with what it deems a “preferred host” candidate.
The board hopes to elect at least the 2030 Winter Olympic host city at next summer’s IOC session, which is expected to take place in Paris days before the 2024 Olympics. If conditions are met, it can decide both the 2030 and 2034 hosts at that session.
Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, was previously elected host of the 2026 Winter Olympics in 2019.
Salt Lake City bids to host either the 2030 or 2034 Winter Games, preferably 2034 as the U.S. is already hosting the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles. Salt Lake City, which hosted the last Olympics in the U.S. in 2002, has had its bid in place for more than a year.
In June, a Swedish bid said it entered into a “dialogue phase” with the IOC regarding the 2030 Games. The Sweden Olympic Committee said the dialogue was expected to last just under six months with a possible final step of targeted dialogue.
In July, a group of French officials expressed interest in bidding for the 2030 Games, though an official bid announcement has not been made.
Sapporo, Japan, which in 2020 became the first 2030 Winter Olympic bidder, announced on Wednesday it pushed back its bid due to lack of public support.
Olympic hosts have traditionally been chosen by IOC members vote seven years before the Games, though recent reforms allow flexibility on the process and timeline.
For example, the 2024 and 2028 Games were awarded to Paris and Los Angeles in a historic double award in 2017.
The 2032 Summer Games were awarded to Brisbane, Australia, in 2021 without a traditional bid race. Brisbane was elected five months after it began targeted dialogue.
Also Friday, Bach said the future host commission continues to discuss creating a possible rotation of permanent Winter Olympic hosts due to climate change limiting the possible pool of hosts.
Bach said it will take at least one year to address.
“By 2040, there remain, practically, just 10 National Olympic Committees who could host these snow events of the Olympic Winter Games,” Bach said. “From these numbers it becomes even clearer that we need to address very quickly this dramatic impact of climate change on winter sport in the Winter Games.”
The IOC board also accepted the Los Angeles 2028 proposal to add five new sports. That proposal will be put to an IOC members vote next week.
The IOC board also wants to keep boxing, weightlifting and modern pentathlon on the Olympic program for 2028. Those three longtime Olympic sports were initially left off the program due to boxing’s governance, weightlifting’s doping problems and modern pentathlon’s accessibility and appeal.
A decision on boxing is on hold while it does not have a recognized international governing body after the International Boxing Association was stripped of that status in June.
The board’s recommendation for modern pentathlon’s inclusion stipulated replacing the equestrian discipline with obstacle racing, as expected.
The board was satisfied with the International Weightlifting Federation’s decision to delegate its anti-doping management to the International Testing Agency and its sanctioning to the Court of Arbitration for Sport through 2028.
Bach also said that a beach sprint rowing discipline will replace lightweight double sculls on the Olympic program after Paris. All of the Summer Olympic sports combined to request to add 16 disciplines to the Games, and beach sprint rowing was the only one accepted.
