Climate Change and Cost Burden... Winter Olympics Considering 'Rotational Hosting'

Cities Struggling to Host Winter Olympics
2030 Host Announcement Delayed... Japan's Sapporo Mentioned

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is considering a plan to hold the Winter Olympics on a rotating basis in several fixed cities.

On the 14th (local time), the Associated Press (AP) reported, "There is a shortage of cities willing to host the Winter Olympics, so cities may rotate to host the Winter Olympics." It added, "Due to the lack of host cities and the burden of stadium costs, the IOC may designate cities to regularly rotate hosting the Winter Olympics."

On the 9th, at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics opening ceremony held at Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium in Gangwon Province, figure skating queen Kim Yuna is lighting the Olympic flame. /Pyeongchang=Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

The media reported, "Realistically, Salt Lake City and Vancouver in North America, Pyeongchang in Asia, Switzerland and Italy in Europe, and Scandinavia could be included as candidate cities."

This discussion was also confirmed in an interview with retired skier Lindsey Vonn (USA). In the interview with AP, Vonn said, "Due to climate change and issues with facilities to hold the events, it is becoming difficult to find cities to host the Winter Olympics," adding, "There is actually discussion about rotating hosting."

She said, "Rotating hosting can mainly utilize existing facilities while meeting altitude standards (such as slopes), and it can also reduce costs," but she predicted, "It will be difficult to apply rotating hosting until the 2034 Games."

The Olympic host city is usually decided seven years before the event. Although the host country was originally supposed to be announced in September or October, the IOC recently postponed the announcement of the 2030 host country due to reasons such as climate change.

The Winter Olympics were held in Pyeongchang, Gangwon Province in 2018, Beijing, China in 2022, and are scheduled to be held in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy in 2026.

For the 2030 Games, Sapporo, Japan has emerged as a candidate, but a public opinion survey is currently being conducted among citizens. Sweden and Salt Lake City in the United States are also likely to bid for the 2030 or 2034 Games.

Since cities that have previously hosted the Olympics are also being mentioned as candidates for rotating hosts, there is a possibility that Pyeongchang Olympics may also be included.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.