A past weighed down by failures and disappointments has made her cautious. We can understand it. But Switzerland still dreams of the Winter Olympics. Since last spring, she has even dreamed about it out loud. And don’t be afraid to play the bold card.

Entered last March into the dialogue phase known as “ continuous " with the IOC for the 2030 Winter Games, Switzerland is shaking up the codes. In August, its national Olympic committee, Swiss Olympic, unveiled a unique concept to try to finally win the prize: the Games not for a city, nor even for a region, but for an entire country. . The Swiss Winter Games. A national Olympic and Paralympic event, with events in all language zones.

How ? Swiss media Watson.ch had access to the file. The document of around a hundred pages, intended to serve as “ master plan » for a possible candidacy, offers a map of sites of a new type, where the tests would be scattered all over the confederation.

In total, the Switzerland 2030 project provides for fourteen competition sites. They concern nine cantons: Bern, Graubünden, Obwalden, Saint-Gall, Uri, Vaud, Valais, Zug and Zurich. Decentralization, long observed at the IOC with suspicious, even hostile views, has become trendy. It would have the merit of bringing the Games to a record number of cities and regions.

The heart of the event should beat in Zurich. The most populous city in Switzerland, with more than 400.000 inhabitants, would host the opening and closing ceremonies at the Letzigrund stadium. It would also host the largest of the athletes' villages. Several other delegation accommodation centers are envisaged in Crans-Montana, Davos, Laax, Saint-Moritz, Engelberg and Kandersteg. For some of them, the file provides for temporary constructions, destroyed or rebuilt elsewhere after the Paralympic meeting.

The German-speaking part of the Swiss confederation would inherit the greatest number of sites. But French-speaking Switzerland is not erased from the system. She would receive alpine skiing, all competitions of which would take place in Crans-Montana. Lausanne, the Olympic capital, would get part of the ice hockey, ten years after organizing the Winter Youth Games.

For the rest, the project remains within the framework of the IOC Agenda 2020+5 and its requirements in terms of sustainability and respect for the environment. It does not envisage any new construction of sports facilities. The speed skating ice ring would be temporary, installed during the Games in a covered structure in the city of Bern. Bobsleigh, luge and skeleton would be contested on the historic St. Moritz track.

At this stage of the process, Switzerland is not yet officially a candidate. She discusses and exchanges with the IOC, as do Sweden and France, the two other surprise guests of a campaign long dominated by the Japanese of Sapporo. The Americans from Salt Lake City, who had entered the battle much earlier, were several steps ahead. But they are rather eyeing the following edition, in 2034, less competitive on a commercial level with the Los Angeles 2028 Games.

The next few weeks promise to be decisive for the Swiss project. A feasibility study is expected in October. The Swiss Olympic Executive Council, then the Sports Parliament, will immediately decide whether it is appropriate to continue. They will also have to decide the question of the calendar. With a scenario with three options: play the 2030 Winter Games card to the fullest, where the terrain has probably never been so clear, or be patient and aim instead for 2034, or even 2038.