The Swedish municipal board of Falun last week signed a guarantee ensuring that the Lugnet ski stadium will be able to stage ski jumping and Nordic events at the proposed 2030 Olympic Winter Games.
That brings to three the number of municipalities that have pledged to back the new Olympic bid with venue commitments and support following Sweden’s loss to Italy’s Milan-Cortina to host the 2026 edition. Åre and Östersund have also guaranteed the availability of key venues that will allow the bid to move forward as it seeks to be named a ‘preferred candidate’ by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board at a meeting at the end of the month.
The two documents signed by each municipality include a venue use guarantee that represents a commitment to provide the facility should Sweden win the right to host the Games; and a municipality guarantee that ensures the region will comply with “Olympic statutes and the IOC’s ethics.”
Firm commitments from municipal partners will help bolster the message when the Swedish Olympic Committee (SOK) presents to the IOC’s Future Host Commission in three weeks.
“We have broad political support in the municipalities and a common image that we can arrange the most sustainable games of all time,” SOK chair Hans von Uthmann said.
Plans call for venues to be spread out in clusters across the country so that no new construction will be required. In addition to Falun, Stockholm and region could host ice hockey and figure skating, Åre would host alpine ski events and Östersund would welcome biathlon. Sliding events bobsleigh, luge and skeleton could be staged in Sigulda, Latvia.
Sweden is in a three horse race that includes a nation-wide Swiss bid and a French bid representing two region in the Alps.
Sweden is the most successful Winter Olympics nation never to host the Winter Games despite eight previous failed bids. Stockholm hosted the Summer Games in 1912.
The IOC has announced informal plans to select one or more bids for targeted dialogue – a phase designed to prepare eligible bids for the final election ballot – by the end of November. A final election has been proposed for the IOC Session to be held ahead of the Paris 2024 Summer Games next July. If France is on the ballot the election would have to be held elsewhere as IOC ethics rules prevent a host from being elected on its own territory.
The election was originally scheduled to be held at this years’ Session in Mumbai that was held last month, but the IOC needed to delay the bid campaign after projects from Canada, Japan and Spain dropped out and the IOC wanted to take more time to explore the impacts of climate change.
