Closing ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games at the National Stadium in Beijing, February 20, 2022. /CFP
Retired Olympic skiing champion Lindsey Vonn of the U.S. told The Associated Press (AP) that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) may have to list fixed hosts on rotation for the Winter Olympic Games.
"There are talks. It is a challenge with climate change and also infrastructure to be able to find venues for the Winter Olympics," Vonn said. "A rotating venue option is on the table in which certain altitude standards would be in place and it would have to have mostly preexisting structures and it would limit the cost for the venues and it would limit the chances of climate change affecting the competitions in a negative way."
Vonn is on the Salt Lake City's bid committee for the Winter Olympics of 2030 or 2034. Salt Lake City hosted the event in 2002 and, thus, has the infrastructure to do it again without having to launch enormous construction projects. In fact, if the IOC selects fixed hosts, they need to have held the Winter Games before, like Salt Lake City.
"I know that's been discussed. How early that will happen, I don't know, but I don't think it would happen before 2034," Vonn added.
The logos of the 2026 Winter Olympics (L) and Paralympics are unveiled to journalists at a press conference in Rome, Italy, March 30, 2021. /CFP
Salt Lake City, Vancouver and Sapporo all bid to host the Winter Olympics for 2030, but both Vancouver and Sapporo ran into trouble. As a result, the IOC, which was supposed to announce the host in September, delayed the process to search for more cities that are interested.
Last week, Sweden said they were weighing up if they want to join the race.
The next edition of the Winter Games will take place in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy in 2026. The Italian hosts beat Sweden's Stockholm and are in the bid competition.
"For 2026, a lot of venues will be renovated, and that's the first step for developing young athletes. For us, the Milan-Cortina Games will be the start of a new cycle. Ten years later, those young athletes will be competing at the Olympics," Italian World Cup alpine ski racer Christof Innerhofer said.