Sweden says to move ahead with 2030 Olympic bid

Country’s Olympic body’s chairman says their feasibility study shows favourable results

STOCKHOLM:

Sweden's Olympic Committee said on Thursday it would move ahead with plans to bid for the 2030 Winter Games after a feasibility study showed favourable results.

"Our preliminary study shows that Sweden has the possibility, know-how and willingness to organise the 2030 Winter Games," chairman of the Swedish Olympic Committee Hans von Uthmann said in a statement.

"I have informed the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that Sweden wants to proceed to step two in the process and the IOC has welcomed us to the next phase, which is regular dialogue," he said.

The IOC had initially been due to announce the host city this year but has postponed its decision until 2024, citing challenges presented by climate change.

But the reality is that there are few candidates: the Japanese city of Sapporo, once seen as a favourite, has put its bid on hold following a corruption scandal surrounding the summer 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Other bids have been withdrawn, including those from Vancouver and Barcelona-Zaragoza.

Only Salt Lake City in the United States, which hosted the Games in 2002, remains as a possibility.

But given that the Summer Olympics will be held in Los Angeles in 2028, Salt Lake City has said it would prefer to organise the Winter 2034 edition.

Stockholm hosted the Summer Games in 1912, but has never hosted a Winter Olympics despite numerous attempts over the years.