IOC awards 2030 Winter Olympics to French Alps, 2034 edition to Salt Lake City (updated)

PARIS, July 24 (Xinhua) — The French Alps has been awarded as the host of the 2030 Winter Olympic Games pending certain conditions, and Salt Lake City of the United States will stage the 2034 edition after a vote by the International Olympic Committee Session here on Wednesday.
France’s hosting rights could be validated only after French government provides financial and organizational guarantees before the dates set by the IOC.
“The Games Delivery Guarantee should be received from the Prime Minister at the latest by 1 October 2024 and should be ratified by the French Parliament no later than 1 March 2025,” said IOC President Thomas Bach.
French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his commitment to the IOC members prior to the vote.
“I reaffirm to you here this morning the full commitment of the French State to organizing these Games. Paris 2024 will be a success, and the same will be true for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in 2030,” said Macron.
“You can trust us – we will be there, and we are proud to support this candidature for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in 2030.”
Although there was no rival in the 2030 bid, the French Alps received four ‘no’ votes and seven abstentions among 95 IOC members.
For Salt Lake City-Utah 2034, there were 83 ‘yes’ votes, six ‘no’ votes and 6 abstentions, out of 89 valid votes.
But IOC officials warn that Salt Lake City’s hosting rights could be revoked if U.S. lawmakers and the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) continues to challenge the authority of World Anti-Doping Agency.
John Coates, chairman of the IOC’s legal affairs commission, said the host city contract with Salt Lake City had been altered to allow the IOC to remove the Games if US authorities did not respect the “supreme authority” of WADA.
“The IOC has reinforced the current language of the Olympic host contract in order to protect the integrity of the international anti-doping system, and to allow the IOC to terminate the Olympic host contract in cases where the supreme authority of the World Anti-Doping Agency is not fully respected or if the application of the World Anti-Doping code is hindered or undermined,” Coates said.
Serious concerns were expressed by several IOC members for the safety of international sports officials as the U.S. is using the Rodchenkov Act to investigate the contamination case of 23 Chinese swimmers, and the U.S. Department of Justice has summoned the executive director of World Aquatics, Brent Nowicki, to testify in this case.
In their presentations, Salt Lake City-Utah 2034 and the USOPC confirmed that they are fully committed to compliance with the World Anti-Doping Code, and that their dedication to clean sport and to the coordinated international anti-doping effort led by WADA is absolute.
“We understand the concern of the international federations, and we’re very sympathetic to that, and they shouldn’t feel unsafe. And so we have to work together to come up with solutions to resolve that,” said Fraser Bullock, SLC-UT 2034 president.
“What we have to do is come up with the plan for everybody to work together and make sure that WADA is respected as the ultimate authority, and make sure people are collaborating,” he added. ■