Little expected but welcome. The race for the 2030 Winter Games, whose finish line has been postponed for a year, may have just inherited a new starter. Sweden announced on Wednesday February 8 that it is considering a bid. Proof that its failure in the campaign for the 2026 Winter Games, where the file carried by Stockholm/Are was preceded by the Italians of Milan-Cortina, did not leave too lasting traces. At this stage, the Swedish project remains conditional. Andres Larsson, the president of the National Olympic Committee, explained it in a press conference (photo above): “We are going to conduct a preliminary study between now and the summer. Hopefully, it will lead to a candidacy. And, hopefully, it will lead to the organization of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Sweden.” So the adventure has only just begun, and it is still uncertain. But the Swedish leader agrees: “There is an opening“. The president of the Swedish Olympic Committee explained that he had already had “an informal exchange with the beginning of a conversation” with the IOC. Obviously, it has made the Swedes want to go a little further. And even to communicate publicly about their intention to prepare a file. But they will have to convince the political authorities to support a bid. The Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson, explained to the TT agency: “Many of us like the Olympics, but no one wants to make a hasty decision.” As for the person in charge of the finances of the city of Stockholm, Karin Wanngård, she warned that it would not be possible to carry out a project of such a scale without the financial guarantees of the State. After the decision of the IOC to postpone to the session of July 2024, organized in Paris in margin of the Summer Games, the attribution of the Winter Olympics in 2030, the Swedes have the time to mingle in the race. But they will have to make quickly.
