France conditionally confirmed 2030 Winter Games hosts, Salt Lake City 2034
France was conditionally picked as the host of the 2030 Winter Games on Wednesday (July 24) and must now deliver key financial guarantees in a timeline to be set by the International Olympic Committee, the IOC said.
The French Alps bid was the preferred choice since June but due to elections and a current caretaker government had been unable to deliver the necessary state and regional financial guarantees in time.
French President Emmanuel Macron spoke to the IOC session before the vote on Wednesday in a bid to ease any concerns and show his support for the candidacy.
The IOC said it had received several assurances regarding the outstanding guarantees that include the state's Olympic delivery guarantee and the financial guarantees of the two regions involved -- the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur regions.
However, it said it would not sign the host city contract, which has already been signed by France until those guarantees were delivered.
The IOC decision means France will host the Winter Games six years after the Summer Olympics in Paris, which start on Friday (July 26).
Salt Lake City, meanwhile, was awarded the 2034 Winter Olympic Games.
The US city, which hosted the 2002 Winter Games, earned 83 votes out of 89 at the IOC session, having been named the preferred choice in June.
Salt Lake City had initially wanted to bid for the 2030 Games, which were awarded to France, but dropped those plans due to the date being too close to the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
The project hit an unexpected hurdle recently with the case of 23 Chinese swimmers who had tested positive for banned substances before the Tokyo Olympics held in 2021.
The 23 swimmers tested positive for trimetazidine (TMZ) but were later cleared by a Chinese investigation, which said they were inadvertently exposed to the drug through contamination.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) did not find any wrongdoing in its investigation of the cases, but it has since triggered a separate US investigation and sharp criticism of WADA's handling from the US anti-doping agency.
The involvement of US authorities in the case angered the IOC which said WADA's authority could not be unilaterally challenged.
The IOC said an amendment in the host city contract had now been added that would allow the IOC to terminate the Olympic host contract "in cases where the supreme authority of WADA in the fight against doping is not fully respected or if the application of anti-doping code is hindered or undermined."
It said Salt Lake City and the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee had already signed the amended contract.
Reuters
