He was missing one piece, just one, to complete his file and continue moving forward. It is now in the pile. By obtaining formal, written support from the government, Sweden remains in the race for the Winter Games in 2030.
« The government is ready to move to the next phase and provide the state guarantees required for a bid to host the 2030 Winter Games in Sweden.", announced, Sunday, November 12, a press release from the political authorities.
Earlier in the race, the Swedish project had put forward several pieces at once, explaining that it had obtained written guarantees from three potential host cities, Åre, Östersund and Falun, supposed to host the alpine skiing, biathlon and Nordic skiing events respectively. .
According to Hans von Uthmann, the president of the Swedish Olympic Committee (SOK), things are on track to bring the capital, Stockholm, and the two neighboring cities of Södertälje and Solna into the adventure.
The press release from the Swedish government specifies it in full: the Olympic and Paralympic project will have to attract massive support from the private sector. Never simple. But Stockholm suggests that the objective has already been partially achieved.
« The government notes the great interest shown by Swedish companies in a Winter Games in Sweden, explains the press release. A prerequisite for government support for a Swedish Olympic bid is that the business community contributes to the sponsorship revenue calculated in the Games budget. »
With this announcement and this support from the authorities, Sweden can continue the race. She can prepare, like her French and Swiss rivals, for the grand oral presentation before the IOC's future host commission. It is scheduled for November 21, by videoconference. The three projects will follow one another during the same day.
The commission in question, chaired by the Austrian Karl Stoss, will then make a recommendation to the executive commission. It will be up to the latter to choose the candidate(s) selected for the targeted dialogue phase. The decision will be announced at the next meeting of the executive commission, from November 29 to December 1 in Paris.
At this stage of the race, Sweden will not present a complete map of sites without gray areas. The country does not have a bobsleigh, luge or skeleton track. And he doesn't intend to build any. For its unsuccessful bid for the Winter Games in 2026, the project planned to use the track in Sigulda, Latvia. This option remains at the top of the list in the new Swedish file.
The French candidacy, presented last week to the media, also displays a question mark. It concerns the speed skating oval, for which the project led by the two Alpine regions considers two options: temporary equipment in an already existing congress or exhibition center, or the use of equipment abroad.
Unlike Switzerland and France, Sweden has never organized the Winter Games, despite a record eight bids.
Question: will the IOC keep a single, or several, project for the so-called targeted dialogue phase? The Olympic body has not leaked the slightest clue that would allow us to dare to come up with a response. Since the implementation of its reform, the new candidacy process has only been used once, for the Summer Games in 2032. Brisbane was the only city selected. She was the favorite. She won. No complaints.
This time, the part looks less readable. Two weeks before the executive commission meeting, it remains difficult to draw a hierarchy between the three European files. Everyone has learned the lessons of the IOC Agenda 2020+5, with sustainable, inexpensive projects without new construction.
« By choosing France, the IOC would not be taking any risks”, suggested David Lappartient, the president of the French Olympic committee, during the presentation of the project of the two regions. TRUE. But he would probably not take more by entrusting the event to Switzerland or Sweden.
