IOC seeking for double allocation of 2030 and 2034 Olympic Winter Games

MUMBAI, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board (EB) is considering a double allocation of the 2030 and 2034 Olympic Winter Games, the IOC announced here on Friday.

After discussing the complexity of the sustainable future for the Olympic Winter Games, the Future Host Commission proposed the IOC EB for the double award to the Winter Games, and the 141st IOC Session will discuss the issue this weekend.

"The IOC EB gave the green light for this proposal, which has been supported by the presidents of all seven Olympic IFs (International Federations). This will now be put to the IOC Session for further discussion," IOC announced.

A report from the Future Host Commission suggested future Olympic Winter Games hosts should have a target of using only existing or temporary venues; and proposed snow competition venues should be climate reliable until at least the middle of the century.

After recent studies, the IOC EB received a preliminary report, which shows that only 15 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) have at least nine out of the 11 venues required for the Winter Games, and 10 out of the 15 NOCs have either recently hosted the Games or are interested in hosting the Games in the future.

"By 2040, two of these 15 NOCs will no longer have the necessary reliability for the Olympic Winter Games held in February and five will not for the Paralympic Winter Games held in March, which means a pool of potential hosts reduced to around 10 NOCs," IOC claimed.

Due to the impact of climate change, this number will be further reduced by the middle of the century, the IOC added.

IOC President Thomas Bach said: "The Future Host Commission reported that the studies are works in progress and the final results will be presented in due course, but the preliminary results already show that we need to adapt the Olympic Winter Games given the impact of climate change. In collaboration with the winter sports community, we need to look for solutions for the future."