The angel – The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) said Friday that it had made “tremendous strides” in hosting the Salt Lake City Winter Games as early as 2030.
USOPC executive director Susanne Lyons said on a conference call following the board’s board meeting in the city of Utah that officials are “deeply in the first and second phases” of the application process for the International Olympic Committee, which calls for expressions of interest and ongoing dialogue.
USOPC selected Salt Lake City, which hosted the 2002 Winter Games, as a potential candidate city in 2018, but it remained open in which year it could host the Games.
Lyons said officials are still considering whether it would be possible to host the 2030 Games less than 24 months after Los Angeles’ 2028 Summer Olympics.
“This is the first time a country has tried to host the Olympics in a row,” she said. “If we can make it by 2030, we’re sure we couldn’t be happier.”
While the decision to move a Salt Lake application forward in 2030 would rest with the USOPC, Lyons said LA 2028 was a “valued partner” in the process as officials assess the potential impact on both events when they are so close together take place.
“We are likely in daily contact with both Salt Lake City and LA 28 several times a day,” Lyons said.
While Los Angeles’ primary mission is to “ensure that we have great games going on in 2028,” she said the organizers there are “very happy to work with us … so that we can host both games.”
The current IOC application process does not provide a specific timetable for the selection of future host cities. Instead, potential hosts have an increasingly specific dialogue with the IOC until a suitable venue is selected.
Other potential hosts for 2030 are Sapporo and Vancouver.
Sapporo hosted the 1972 Winter Games and hosted the marathon and running walk events of this year’s Tokyo Games. Vancouver hosted the 2010 Winter Games.
Should they determine that enforcing an offer in Salt Lake City is not feasible in 2030, USOPC could target 2034 instead.
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