A stage has passed. The future will tell if it was decisive. But the race for the 2030 Winter Games still remains undecided, with just over a week to go before the IOC Executive Board's decision on the candidate(s) selected for the remainder of the competition.
The two French regions of the Alps, Sweden, Switzerland and Salt Lake City submitted, Tuesday January 21, to the grand oral exercise before the commission for the future host of the IOC Winter Games, chaired by the Austrian Karl Stoss. Forty-five minutes to convince people of the relevance of the file, the advantages of the system, the seriousness of the guarantees and the prospects.
Rather short, especially in videoconference. But the selection process adopted by the IOC is like this. Instead of long and costly candidacy campaigns of yesterday, today he favors conciseness and simplicity.
The new situation also invites candidates to exercise discretion and save declarations. None of the teams heard on Tuesday November 21 accompanied their grand oral presentation with a press release. They were also asked not to reveal to the media the precise nature of the questions asked by the IOC commission.
The French Alps project respected the instructions, but without refusing to receive the media at the end of the exercise. He had the right to do so.
For the occasion of this great oral, the casting was plentiful. David Lappartient, the president of the French Olympic committee (CNOSF), was accompanied by Marie-Amélie Le Fur, his counterpart from the Paralympic committee (CPSF, and the two regional presidents, Laurent Wauquiez for Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Renaud Muselier for Provence -Alpes-Côte-d'Azur. Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, the Minister of Sports and the Olympic and Paralympic Games, was also there. She concluded the presentation before the question session.
For the athletes' part, former biathlete Martin Fourcade, member of the IOC, intervened remotely, by videoconference. Skier Marie Bochet, multiple Paralympic champion, was also invited. Finally, the French team was reinforced by another member of the IOC, Jean-Christophe Rolland, the president of World Rowing.
The reactions ? Positive. And even a little more. The opposite would have been a scoop. “ I think we were all under pressure, confided Laurent Wauquiez. It felt like we were taking an exam. We had been preparing for 10 days, we had done several sessions, until the last morning. I think we had a good match, a good run, showing that we were very complementary, very comfortable. We wanted to show that we are a team that has built itself and wants to win. »
David Lappartient, for his part, explained without detracting from them that the questions asked by the future host commission had focused on “ the assurances that the IOC wishes to have on our general capacity to deliver. » The UCI president continued: “We answered all the technical and financial questions point by point. We showed, collectively, that we knew our file and that we had the answers to the questions asked of us. »
Probably no coincidence: the city of Stockholm announced on Tuesday November 21, a few hours before the grand oral presentation of the Swedish bid, that it supported the Olympic and Paralympic project for the 2030 Winter Games. In a press release sent by the national Olympic committee (SOK), the mayor of the capital, Karin Wanngård, explains having assured the IOC that her city “ supported goal-oriented dialogue” of the Olympic body.
His announcement followed by a few days the green light given last week by the government. The Swedish file is now complete, the capital being added to a system built around existing sites, notably in Falun, Åre and Östersund.
On the Swiss side, Friday November 24 promises to be decisive. It will be marked by a debate in the Sports Parliament on the candidacy for the Winter Games. The Swiss institution will have to give the green light, or not, to the continuation of the project.
The rest of the process will no longer pause. The future host commission is due to meet this Wednesday, November 22 for a debriefing of the presentations of the four candidates. It will thus be able to prepare its recommendations to the executive commission.
Last clarification: the IOC has revealed the agenda for the Executive Board meeting, scheduled for November 29 to December 1 in Paris. The subject of Winter Games 2030 is on the agenda for the first day. The announcement of the successful candidate(s) could therefore take place the same evening, with a press conference announced for 19 p.m.
