Ties Growing Between 2030 and 2034 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Hosts

Ties between two future Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games hosts were continuing to deepen this week as a delegation of governmental officials from France’s Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, one of two regions that are part of the French Alps 2030 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, are visiting Salt Lake City.

The visit is part of a broader trade mission in Utah and the United States. The eight-member French delegation is led by Fabrice Pannekoucke, president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, one of the regions hosting the 2030 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

Fraser Bullock, president and chief executive officer for the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games, the group that secured the 2034 Games, said the two groups would be able to discuss some of the learnings they have already gained since both bids were approved by the International Olympic Committee.

“We’ll show them how we plan on moving people and where the crowds are going to be and how we’re going to manage transportation and various things in the mountains,” Bullock said, pointing to the difference between Salt Lake’s compact venue plan and the more broader plan for France 2030.

The two groups are on markedly different timelines. The Salt Lake 2034 group has been working on its bid for years and has secured 21,000 hotel rooms for the 2034 Games and got agreements with all proposed venues for 2034. The French 2030 group started much later in the process and had its bid approved on a contingent basis in July at the IOC Session.

“I’m sure they’re facing critical questions right now that they have to deliberate in the short term,” said Bullock, a veteran of Salt Lake’s 2002 Games operations. “We’re going to talk about some of those topics. What are the key elements that they have undecided? And can we provide some advice?”

France’s national politics have changed dramatically since the Games in Paris were completed and that has also raised doubt as to the state of preparation five years out from its Winter Games showcase.

“I am optimistic and I feel like I can be affirmative as well because we have received very strong commitments,” Pannekoucke said. “The French government, the state of France, will be ready and willing to ensure that the Games are delivered on time.”

Pannekoucke said having multiple regions host the Games will also help French preparations. Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region President Renaud Muselier visited Salt Lake and Park City in January of last year.

“We hosted the Games in Albertville in 1992, we are using 95 percent of the existing infrastructure for those games for 2030,” Pannekoucke said. “The timeline is very short, but there’s also not a lot to do in terms of the construction. And that’s why I’m confident that we will deliver great Games on time.”

The French plan spreads across four hubs around the Alps near previous Winter Games hosts Chamonix (1924), Grenoble (1968) and Albertville (1992). Nice, on the French Riviera, would host ice hockey, curling, figure skating, short track speedskating plus the Closing Ceremony.  The main mountain cluster of events would be in the Savoie Zone with alpine skiing, ski jumping and sliding sports on its overall list. It also said that long-track speedskating would be held at an existing oval somewhere in Europe.

“I think we are incredibly lucky to have this shared opportunity,” Pannekoucke said. “I think it’s a great opportunity for us to think together as future host cities about how we can organize Olympic games and Paralympic games that think about this moment of transition that we’re in, as we think about the changes that are happening in terms of climate and changes that are happening in the way we use our mountains. We can talk about what we have in common and can learn from one another as regions that can host these kinds of events.”

The next step in Salt Lake is putting together the official local organizing committee. Bullock said progress is being made and work is being done with the IOC and United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee with the hope of having the committee’s setup and leadership settled in the first quarter of this year.