A formality. Submitted to the vote of the 141st IOC Session, the principle of a double vote for the award of the 2030 and 2034 Winter Games was formally validated on Sunday 15 October in Mumbai. The members of the body approved it by a show of hands, with an overwhelming majority and only a handful of abstentions. Austrian Karl Stoss, the new chairman of the Winter Games Future Host Commission, suggested before the vote that a double award next year at the Paris session in July, or even later and elsewhere in the event of a French bid still in the running, would offer “security to the Olympic movement in uncertain economic times.” It will also ensure “climate-reliable” host countries until 2034. As Karl Stoss pointed out, the French, Swiss and Swedish bids for the 2030 Games must finalise their bids by the end of October. The Austrian leader also pointed out that Salt Lake City currently has no declared competitor for the 2034 Games.
