International Olympic Committee (IOC) executives and members will meet in Mumbai, India this week for a series a key decision-making meetings that could have major impacts on future Winter and Summer Olympic Games.
On Thursday the IOC Executive Board kicked off its two-day meeting to cover a wide variety of business, but took a bold first step by announcing the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) for its recognition of regional entities illegally annexed by Ukraine, against the Olympic Charter. The ROC will no longer be permitted to participate as a national Olympic Committee and will not receive funding for that purpose. The decision to allow Russian athletes to compete as neutrals is still to be determined.
On Friday the IOC will move on to other topics including the Los Angeles 2028 proposal to include five new sports on its Olympic program – baseball/Softball, cricket, flag football, lacrosse and squash. The plan is expected to be approved by the board and put to the members at the two-day 141st IOC Session beginning Sunday for a likely rubberstamping.
The Executive Board will also review reports from the Future Host Commission for the Winter Games that was tasked last December to explore the potential impacts of climate change on the event, and to propose strategies to ensure its continuation. Specifically, the Commission chaired by Austrian Karl Stoss was asked to look into a possible double allocation of the 2030 and 2034 editions and to examine if “rotating the Olympic Winter Games within a pool of hosts” would be feasible.
Sapporo in Japan has become a dynamic bidder that could still impact the Winter Games in the near future despite the city’s Mayor announcing Wednesday that he has dropped plans to for 2030.
IOC spokesperson Mark Adams told reporters during a press conference in Mumbai Thursday that Sapporo is “going to remain in the continuous dialogue phase, which is designed to be flexible so it’s non-committal on both sides. There will continue to be some dialogue over the coming years but they have obviously made it clear that 2030 is too soon for them.”
Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) officials have said that a campaign could be renewed for 2034, but that could be an uphill battle against a bid from Salt Lake City that is considered an overwhelming favorite to host that year. But involvement in continuous dialogue would put the Hokkaido capital in position for a possible pool of future hosts that is now being considered.
Salt Lake City has been campaigning to host its second Winter Games (2002) for 11 years according to president and CEO of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games (SLC-UT) Fraser Bullock. He told Sport Business Journal that he hopes to see some indication from these meetings that his group is on the right path.
“If they give a positive signal, that will be celebrated by us here in Utah and we believe that we would be a great candidate for a future Games,” he said.
“Fortunately, the people of Utah are very supportive of the Olympics and Paralympics. However, holding that interest indefinitely would be incredibly challenging. That’s why we are hoping for progress this year.”
The Executive Board could approve any proposed plans and put them to the Session on Sunday for a vote, or the ideas might just be presented to the members for input and discussion. There is no set timeline for the election of future host cities so the IOC has flexibility on how they move ahead.
Other regions in continuous dialogue for the Winter Games include Sweden, Switzerland and the French Alps – all looking for a timetable and some structure for the months ahead leading up to a possible election. The IOC has said it could name one or more targeted candidates for election in December with a final vote next summer, but the last chance to put a revised framework in place for those decisions and get any necessary membership approval would be in Mumbai over the next few days.
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