Winter Olympics on verge of returning to Salt Lake City in 2034

Salt Lake City, Utah, is expected to be the home of the 2034 Winter Olympics. 

The games took place there in 2002, and after the International Olympic Committee met in Paris on Wednesday, they came away impressed with the city’s proposal to host it once more.

Chair of the IOC’s Future Host Commission, Karl Stoss, basically confirmed Salt Lake City as the host city in 2034 after calling it the preferred candidate. 

While the Winter Olympics will be in the United States that year, France also became the preferred host in 2030. Stoss said that Salt Lake City preferred to wait four more years to account for extra time to prepare for the games. 

However, the key word here is “preferred.” The host cities will still need to “do their homework,” as Stoss said, per Yahoo Sports, to make sure that all boxes are checked. 

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That would include government contracts, safeguards and more before a final vote comes in July 2024. 

“We are so ready for this,” Salt Lake City’s mayor, Erin Mendenhall, said to reporters on Wednesday. “We are ready to lock it in.”

Salt Lake City didn’t have competition for its bid in 2034, as it was the only host city that proposed to host the games. Still, it came prepared, and prominent figures in Utah were waiting outside the meeting in Paris to await the results. 

The United States will have the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028 as well. 

The Winter Olympics in 2002 is also regarded as one of the best games in history, which included the U.S. sweeping in halfpipe snowboarding, Sarah Hughes winning gold in ladies’ single figure skating and Canada taking down the U.S. in men’s ice hockey to get gold for the first time in 50 years.