Salt Lake City’s Olympic bid has received a major boost. Former American skier Lindsey Vonn will accompany the delegation from the Utah capital next week (15 and 17 June) when it visits the IOC headquarters in Lausanne. Retired since 2019, the gold medallist in the downhill at the Vancouver Games in 2010 is very attached to Salt Lake City, where she made her Olympic debut in 2002 at the age of 18. According to Catherine Raney-Norman, the president of the bid committee, the former skier did not hesitate for a second to accept the Salt Lake City team’s request. “Absolutely! How can I get involved?” she said immediately. Salt Lake City has been in the dialogue phase with the IOC for more than a year and is still hesitating between two editions of the Winter Games, in 2030 and 2034. “We are focused on 2030, said Fraser Bullock, the bid committee’s chief executive last week. Everything we do, every contract we sign, is focused on 2030. But there is also a provision for 2034. We recognise that back-to-back Games (after Los Angeles 2028) are a challenge. It is difficult for the IOC to award consecutive Games to the US. We know it is difficult. But we also know that there may be opportunities to host Games two years apart.”
