PARIS — The Winter Olympics will return to Salt Lake City in 2034, with the 2030 games tentatively scheduled to be held in the French Alps, officials said Wednesday.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall and other organizing committee officials traveled to Paris this week to meet with members of the International Olympic Committee and shore up support for the committee’s bid to return the Winter Olympics to its 2002 home.
Salt Lake City had been looked certain to host the 2034 games for weeks, but the IOC belatedly expressed concerns that US authorities might not back the beleaguered World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
US lawmakers have launched an investigation into alleged doping by Chinese swimmers ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, potentially weakening WADA’s authority.
Starting with the Opening Ceremony on July 26 at 12pm ET, every moment and every medal from the Paris 2024 Olympics will be available to stream on Peacock.
“The last 10 days of my life have been completely unexpected,” Salt Lake City’s candidate manager, Fraser Bullock, told NBC affiliate KSL minutes after the Salt Lake City vote. “We were on track to make a final decision, and then this issue came up and we had to deal with it.”
But with 83 votes in favor of Salt Lake City going ahead and six against, Block said he believed the IOC had full confidence in the 2034 organising committee.
“I believe there are some adjustments that can be made to bring the U.S. and global anti-doping communities together and to keep them from being at odds,” Block said. “In fact, I believe this will be constructive.”
Bullock said each of the 2034 venues already exists or will be built for temporary use, so local taxpayers won’t be burdened with ongoing costs or underutilized facilities.
“These venues continue a great tradition that began in 2002 that continues to benefit Utah and its residents today,” Block said.
Hundreds of Utahns watched the announcement on big screen televisions in Washington Square Park, cheering wildly as the votes and announcement were made at just before dawn at 4:22 a.m. MDT.
To mark the return of the Olympics, the Olympic cauldron was lit at the University of Utah’s Rice-Eccles Stadium.
“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity,” said Caitlin Eskelson, president and CEO of the Salt Lake Tourism Association. “It’s a very exciting time and it will catapult us onto the world stage.”
This will be the fifth time the event is held in the United States, which has previously rolled out the winter red carpet in Salt Lake City (2002 and 2034), Lake Placid (1932 and 1980) and Squaw Valley (1960).
The IOC made the award to France conditional, pending further financial guarantees from the organizers, the people said.
If France were to host the Olympics, it would be its fourth time hosting the Winter Olympics, after Chamonix in 1924, Grenoble in 1968 and Albertville in 1992.
With the exception of the Summer Olympics opening this week in Paris, the locations and dates for the next five Olympic Games are largely set.
- The 2026 Winter Olympics are scheduled to take place from February 6 to 22 near Milan, Italy.
- Los Angeles will host the Summer Olympics from July 14-30, 2028. Los Angeles previously hosted the Olympics in 1932 and 1984, making it the first city to host the Olympics three times, joining Paris and London.
- The 2030 Olympic Games are scheduled to take place in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur regions from 8 to 24 February 2030.
- The Olympics will return to Australia in the summer of 2032, held in Brisbane from July 23 to August 8.
- Salt Lake City will get a second chance at winter glory from Feb. 10-26, 2034.
The designation of Salt Lake City and the French Alps as the site of the next Winter Olympics had been under consideration for several months, with only moderate concern in the context of France’s early elections.
But concerns over the 2030 hosting selection appear to have eased after centrist French President Emmanuel Macron and his left-wing parties thwarted a far-right challenge.
