Rmed as the host city for the 2034 Winter Olympics. | AP Photo/Christophe Ena
The selection of Salt Lake City to host the 2034 Winter Olympics comes after the IOC overhauled the bidding process for the games. The changes, approved by the IOC before last year’s Tokyo Summer Olympics, allow future host cities to be chosen based on agreed-upon criteria rather than a competitive bid process.
Salt Lake City’s selection involves a partnership between the state of Utah and a private organizing committee. The games will be held across multiple venues in Salt Lake City, Park City, and other locations in Utah.
The 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City were overshadowed by a bribery scandal involving committee members and were the subject of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. However, the games were ultimately successful and widely regarded as well-organized and well-received.
A crowd gathered in the Salt Lake City early Wednesday morning celebrated the decision, which brings the winter games back to the U.S., for the first time in decades.
“Salt Lake City and the Olympic and Paralympic Movement are deeply connected through values – our commitment to diversity, love for our youth and the tireless work to preserve our environment. These principles are shared through the lens of sport,” Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall said Wednesday.
“I can’t imagine a better partnership than the one we continue to forge with our Olympic partners,” she added.
As part of the celebration, officials relit the 2002 Olympic cauldron at Rice-Eccles Stadium. The stadium, which hosts the University of Utah’s football team, has been proposed to host the opening and closing ceremony for the 2034 games, as it did for the 2002 games.
The bid from Salt Lake City plans for the games to utilize all existing or temporary venues, after past Olympic hosts have decried the cost of building new venues for hosting the games.
The logo for the 2034 Winter Olympics is unveiled on the Salt Lake City and County Building after Salt Lake City was announced as the host city, Wednesday, July 24, 2024, in Salt Lake City, Utah. (AP Photo/Spenser Heaps)
At the IOC meeting on Wednesday, officials also awarded the French Alps the 2030 Winter Olympics, under the condition of support from the French government — which will be formed in the coming months following the parliamentary elections earlier this month.
Paris, France, will host the Summer Olympics beginning this week, with the opening ceremony scheduled for Friday. At the closing ceremony in August, Paris will hand over the Olympic flag to Los Angeles, California, which will host the 2028 Summer Olympics.
With the selection of Salt Lake City as the host of the 2034 Winter Olympics, it will mark the fifth time the United States will host the Winter Olympics, having previously done so in Lake Placid, New York, in 1932 and 1980, Squaw Valley, California, in 1960, and Salt Lake City in 2002.
The United States last hosted the Summer Olympics in 1996, in Atlanta, Georgia.
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