Swiss Olympic and Paralympic officials mounted a Winter Games bid focusing on 2030 with 2034 as an alternative option.
The bid — billed as the first nationwide Games rather than centered on a specific city or region — must be approved by a sports parliament on Nov. 24 to move forward, according to a press release.
If approved, Swiss officials want to enter “targeted dialogue” with the IOC.
Swiss officials said it can be privately funded and that there was 67 percent approval in a survey.
Under recent future host reforms, the IOC can enter targeted dialogue with what it deems a “preferred host” candidate about staging the Games. This process led to Brisbane, Australia, being awarded the 2032 Summer Games in 2021.
The IOC said last week that it plans to elect at least the 2030 Winter Games host by next summer, and possibly decide both the 2030 and 2034 hosts at that time.
The IOC Executive Board plans to decide by the end of November on at least one possible bidder with which to engage in targeted dialogue.
The Swiss venue plan includes figure skating and short track in Lausanne on Lake Geneva (the IOC headquarters city), Alpine skiing in Crans Montana in the Alps and hockey shared by Zug, Fribourg and Zurich. Many other events would take place in St. Moritz, which hosted the Winter Olympics in 1928 and 1948.
There is no world-class speed skating venue in Switzerland, so that could be staged in a nearby country.
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, recently pushed back its bid due to lack of public support.
Previously, Swiss Winter Games bids were rejected by public vote in the early stages for 2022 (St. Moritz/Davos) and 2026 (Valais region).
