The International Olympic Committee voted Wednesday to award Salt Lake City the 2034 Winter Olympic and Winter Paralympic Games.
Utah’s capital ran uncontested after being named the preferred bidder in November and received important approval from the IOC executive board last month. The city last hosted the Games in 2002. The Games are remembered for their emotional tributes following the Sept. 11 attacks just months before, and the Olympic debut of speed skater Apolo Ohno.
“In 2002 Utah desperately needed the Olympics. We needed it. It helped put us on the map. It helped us with some economic challenges, infrastructure challenges,” Republican Gov. Spencer Cox said Tuesday. “It’s a lot different this time around, I think. I think the Olympic movement needs Utah. We’ve done this before and we have a chance to give back in a very positive way.”
Utah had originally focused its bid on 2030 but shifted to 2034 to avoid having back-to-back Games in the U.S. following Los Angeles in 2028. The IOC also approved France’s bid for 2030 on Wednesday, but it came with some conditions. The French government can’t legally make the usual assurances about the event after its prime minister and his government resigned last week. The IOC mandated that France submit a legally binding instrument guaranteeing the country would comply with the Olympic charter.
The decade-early announcement is in line with the last announcement of the 2032 Games in Brisbane back in 2021. Before more recent changes to the Olympic Charter, designations were typically made seven years out.
