The French Alps bid to host the 2030 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games reached a critical milestone Thursday with the submission of the candidature file including detailed plans to host the event. The documents were due to be filed online and received by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) by end of day.
“It is a 55-page file with 32 pages of annexes which includes answers to questions formulated by the IOC on the themes of sustainability, legacy and athlete experience,” Vincent Jay, project director for the bid said according to Ski Chrono.
“The summary was sent by the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) to the IOC.”
The French bid was singled out by the IOC last November as the preferred candidate for the 2030 Games, beating out projects from Switzerland and Sweden. That put the French Alps into a due diligence phase leading up to the region’s expected election by IOC Members just two days ahead of the opening of the Paris 2024 Olympics in July.
But before that happens, the IOC Future Host Commission (FHC) will visit the region for a site inspection in April, and then in June the IOC Executive Board guided by the FHC will decide whether to give the project its stamp of approval and recommend it to the July Session.
On Thursday organizers behind the Salt Lake City 2034 Winter Games bid held a document submission ceremony in the Utah State Capitol. The United States city is engaged in targeted dialogue as a preferred candidate for the later Games and will follow a similar path to its probable election, also on July 24.
Both cities still need to submit guarantee files by March 29 which will include letters of support from various governments, contracts for venues and accommodations and other assurances that services will be available for the Games.
The documents have not been released to the public.
According to reports the French documents include multiple options for the venue plan after further vetting of the initial concept drew some criticism.
CNOSF president and IOC member David Lappartient reportedly sent a letter to IOC General Director Christophe De Kepper and IOC Executive Director Christophe Dubi on February 21 explaining the situation, and requested further input from the International Ski Federation (FIS) on the feasibility of various plans.
“In our discussions, we notably mentioned the capacity of the Méribel-Courchevel cluster to accommodate the entire ski program envisaged at this stage, and therefore the hypothesis of adding the Val d’Isère site if a difficulty was identified,” Lappartient said according to Ski Chrono.
An FIS delegation is set to travel to the region for further study.
French Alps 2030 emerged as a late bidder for the Games and built its project over just a few months, and during the preparation of the Paris 2024 Summer Games in the capital. In contrast, Sweden had leveraged plans from a failed Stockholm Åre 2026 bid and spent almost 10 months preparing and Switzerland had been developing its project for almost a year.
Salt Lake City has been working towards its 2034 bid for almost a decade.
The IOC has given Switzerland an opportunity to participate in ‘privileged dialogue’ with an exclusive window to bid for the 2038 Winter Games until the end of 2027.
