IOC Approves French Alps Bid to Host 2030 Winter Olympics

PARIS — The French Alps region was provisionally awarded the 2030 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games contingent on government guarantees, an extraordinary development forced on the International Olympic Committee because of the country’s political turmoil over the past month.

The International Olympic Committee’s membership approved the recommendation of the Executive Board on Wednesday during its second day of IOC Session meetings, days before Paris hosts the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games and giving France the opportunity to host two Games within a six-year span. The final vote was 84 yes, four no and seven abstentions.

Financial guarantees were due to the IOC from the French government, which remains in limbo after French President Emmanuel Macron called a snap election in the wake of far-right victories in June’s European Parliament vote.

The election meant Prime Minister Gabriel Attal’s authority to sign governmental guarantees was voided. The July 7 election did not result in a clear mandate for any one party to govern and Attal now stands as an interim Prime Minister as multiple parties from the New Popular Front coalition are arguing on how to proceed.

“I confirm the full commitment of the French nation and assure you that I will ask the next prime minister to include not only this guarantee but also an Olympic law in the priorities of the new government,” Macron said. “Seven years ago we made the same commitment (for Paris 2024) and we delivered. We will do the same.”

A deadline of October 1 was set by the IOC for the next French Prime Minister to sign a document guarantee key promises for the 2030 project. The national assembly elected this month must ratify that document by March 1, IOC president Thomas Bach said.

“We have now to invent a new model, a sustainable one, for people living in the mountains,” Macron acknowledged Wednesday in a speech in English. “We do believe in the future of Winter Games. We do believe in the future of our mountains.”

The 2030 Games bid from the French Alps region has been in targeted dialogue with the IOC since November 2023. The French bid spreads across four hubs around the Alps near previous Winter Games hosts Chamonix (1924), Grenoble (1968) and Albertville (1992). A bid uniting the snowy Alps region and the French Riviera resort Nice as host for indoor winter sports was the project of strong public and international promotion from its national Olympic committee leader David Lappartient, the president of cycling’s governing body who has become increasingly influential within the IOC membership.

“This choice, as well as Paris (2024) and now the French Alps, is fantastic for the mountains because we have a big projection to take care of the environment and a new way of taking care of the mountains,” Renaud Muselier, president of the Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur.

The race for 2030 started with three main contenders in Salt Lake City, Vancouver and Sapporo, Japan. Sapporo was seen as the early favorite with Olympic observers believing the IOC would reward Japan as soon as possible after Tokyo held the pandemic-delayed Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2021 without fans, which contributed to explosive budget overruns. But Sapporo’s candidacy was wounded by a massive corruption and bid-rigging investigation stemming from the Tokyo Games as officials from Sapporo and the Japanese Olympic Committee first paused their candidacy and eventually withdrew its bid because of a lack of public support.

Vancouver’s bid was unique, being the first Indigenous-led bid process and with nearly all of its venues from the 2010 Games still in operation. But with budget questions came needed provincial guarantees for the bid to be viable and when British Columbia officials said in October 2022 that it would not provide support, the local bid officials continued its work but were not seen as a viable candidate much longer.

With the Summer Games in 2028 in Los Angeles, the IOC was wary of having the U.S. host back-to-back Games because of the overlap that would come in domestic marketing cycles for each U.S.-based Games, encouraging Salt Lake City to focus its efforts on hosting the 2034 Games, which was also approved of by membership on Wednesday.

Keeping that in mind, the IOC began a not-too-subtle recruiting effort to find other countries that would be interested in bidding, announcing in December 2022 it would postpone choosing a 2030 Winter Games host. After the delay, three possibilities developed out of Europe — first out of Sweden, followed by Switzerland and then France.

The French bid centers around four regions with 14 venues, one of which would have to be built. Nice, on the French Riviera, would host ice hockey, curling, figure skating, short track speedskating plus the Closing Ceremony. The bid also proposed ice hockey at the Allianz Riveria Arena, home of Ligue 1 soccer club Nice, with a “temporary roof, temporary ice rinks, a temporary climate control system and some temporary seating” but also noted that further studies were ongoing with the IOC recommending a ‘Plan B’ be developed as a backup.

The main mountain cluster of events would be in the Savoie Zone with alpine skiing, ski jumping and sliding sports on its overall list. The bid did not specify an Opening Ceremony venue other than a split ceremony between Albertville, Chamonix and Grenoble was under consideration. It also plans for five separate Olympic Villages spread across the region. It also said that long-track speedskating would be held at an existing oval somewhere else in Europe.

“It’s very important for us to get this confidence today for the bid of the French Alps 2030,” said Amelie Oudea-Castera, minister of sports. “We have shown we have Games that are sustainable and responsible, and to transform our society we had the idea of using this power of the Games for the French Alps to continue on the transition of taking care of the mountains with lots of responsibility, lots of humbleness that recall the Olympic and Paralympic spirit.”