SALT LAKE CITY — Utah was awarded the 2034 Winter Games on July 24, Pioneer Day, in Utah.
The long-awaited vote by the International Olympic Committee on the bid that began more than a decade ago came after a presentation by Gov. Spencer Cox, Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall and other bid leaders at a meeting in Paris, ahead of the 2024 Summer Games.
In Salt Lake City, which hosted the 2002 Winter Games, a crowd that gathered overnight in Washington Square celebrated.
Utah, named the sole preferred host for 2034 late last year under the committee’s new, less formal selection process, was advanced to the final vote by the leaders of the Switzerland-based organization in June along with France’s French Alps bid to host the 2030 Winter Games.
On July 24, the International Olympic Committee also voted to award the 2030 Winter Games to the French Alps. But it wasn’t that long ago that 2023 was supposed to be the year when the committee would settle on a site for the 2030 Winter Games, based on bids from Salt Lake City; Sapporo, Japan; and Vancouver, Canada.
Instead, International Olympic Committee leaders decided in December 2022 to upend an announced time line that had already repeatedly shifted, putting off a pick and reviving the possibility that hosts for both the 2030 and 2034 Winter Games may be named together.
That was intended to give the committee more time to consider a plan to rotate future Winter Games among permanent sites chosen for their ability to weather the effects of climate change on outdoor competition venues.
The committee’s delay also offered an opening for new cities to get in the race, and Sweden, Switzerland and France all came forward with bids for 2030. Sapporo and Vancouver, unable to secure the needed public support, ended up out of the running.
Salt Lake City was the only bidder for both 2030 and 2034, with a preference for waiting longer after the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles to avoid a feared financial hit to domestic sponsorship sales.
After the International Olympic Committee gave a “green light” in October to a naming the sites for 2030 and 2034 at the same time, Salt Lake City seemed to have locked up another Olympics as the only candidate for 2034. Committee officials had expressed confidence that France and Salt Lake City were ready to host after visits to both sites in April.
