Olympics
The Swedish Olympic Committee has received the Stockholm City Council’s approval to proceed with the bid to host the 2030 Winter Olympics. The Swedish capital Stockholm emerged on the scene as a potential host earlier this year, as Sapporo, Japan, dropped off the radar. Federal approval for the Swedish Olympic bid was obtained in July this year.
The green light from Stockholm City Council comes just days before a meeting of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). A panel by the IOC is currently evaluating online presentations from prospective hosts in preparation for the Executive Board meetings of the IOC in Paris from Wednesday, November 29 to Friday, December 1, 2023.
A decision about the 2030 host will not be made until July next year, however, the Executive Board aims to pick its preferred candidates for the 2030 and 2034 Winter Games. Preferred candidates can then enter exclusive negotiations known as “targeted dialogue.”
Stockholm would be the official host of the 2030 Winter Games but most sporting venues would be outside the capital city. The Swedish bid puts forward the extensive use of existing venues such as Solna, Södertälje, Falun, Östersund, and Åre in Sweden, as well as Sigulda across the Baltic Sea in Latvia. Stockholm is putting forward an economically and environmentally sustainable bid and mayor Karin Wanngård said that hosting the games in the Swedish capital would guarantee that the world-famous event “can be carried out in a sustainable way on a climatic, economic and social level.”
Sweden has put forward a total of eight bids to host the Winter Games but has failed to succeed each time, most recently losing out to Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo in Italy for the 2026 Olympics. Public support for the Olympic bid is big in Sweden, with seven out of ten Swedes supporting the plan. The Swedish bid is facing at least two other serious candidates: Switzerland and France. The Swiss bid needs to win a vote Friday of national sports bodies to advance. Salt Lake City, Utah, is understood to favor hosting the 2034 Winter Games so as not to compete for resources with the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles, California.
