Christophe Dubi was telling the truth on Tuesday 28 March at a press conference on the first day of the IOC Executive Board meeting: the campaign for the Winter Games in 2030 is now attracting increased interest. A new possible candidate has just made itself known: Switzerland. Its national Olympic committee, Swiss Olympic, says in a statement that it is “examining the conditions for a Winter Games in Switzerland in accordance with its strategy.” In effect, the Swiss Olympic Board has asked the IOC to “move from an ‘informal dialogue’ to an ‘ongoing dialogue’ as part of the ‘Election of Future Hosts’ process.” The nuance is important. It suggests that Switzerland is now much more willing to engage in the campaign for the Winter Games. Cautiously, Swiss Olympic warned that it would first “verify whether the conditions are right for a possible Swiss Olympic bid“. This is normal. But the machine seems to be running. And, as with Sweden, the other guest of the last few months in the campaign, it could well take advantage of an undoubtedly historic opportunity to quickly gain momentum. The Swiss media report that the IOC received a delegation from Swiss Olympics on Thursday 23 March for “exploratory talks.” On the IOC side, the discussions were led by Director General Christophe De Kepper. The Swiss delegation consisted of Swiss Olympic President Jürg Stahl and Director General Ralph Stöckli, as well as representatives of the national winter sports federations, including Swiss Ski President Urs Lehmann.
