If there was still any doubt, the four-day visit by the commission for the future host of the IOC Winter Games has removed it: Salt Lake City will win the organization of the 2034 edition next July. Led by the Austrian Karl Stoss (photo above, left), the delegation from Lausanne was able to verify on the ground the certainties of its first evaluation. A little more than three months before the session of the body, where the hosts of the 2030 and 2034 Winter Games must be officially designated, the capital of Utah has already won the game. Fraser Bullock, the president and CEO of the bid committee, summed it up in one word during the final press conference on Saturday, April 13: “ When I look at how the last few days have gone, on a scale of one to ten, I think we have 15″. Then the American told the media that members of the IOC delegation had suggested to him that Salt Lake City had “ underestimated the sites in its application », because they were in reality significantly better than the presentation that was made in the 5.000 pages of the file sent to Lausanne. Equally unnuanced comment from Karl Stoss: “ Congratulations to Salt Lake City and Utah. You will become a role model for the IOC. » Not less. Same enthusiasm from Jacqueline Barrett, director of the department of future hosts of the Games at the IOC: “ Personally, what surprised me the most was the passion that still exists here for the Winter Olympics 22 years after the 2002 edition. We felt it in people everywhere we went.” The future host commission will travel to the French Alps at the end of April, selected for the preferred dialogue phase for the Winter Games in 2030.
