France to get conditional approval Wednesday to host 2030 Winter Olympics

France will get just a partial Olympic win Wednesday when its bid to host the 2030 Winter Games is presented to IOC members.

International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach confirmed Tuesday that full approval for the bid, centred on ski resorts in the French Alps and coastal city Nice, cannot be given since parliamentary elections this month left France with only a caretaker national government.

"There will be a vote on the 2030 project, but it will be a vote being linked with conditions," Bach said about a scheduled meeting Wednesday, hours before team sports start play at the Paris Summer Games.

The IOC had wanted its traditional eve-of-Olympics meeting in Paris to confirm France as the 2030 host and give Salt Lake City the 2034 Winter Games.

Salt Lake City will be confirmed by the IOC as the preferred and only candidate, bringing the Winter Games back to Utah 32 years after hosting in 2002.

Potential Olympic hosts need sign-off from different layers of government to guarantee funding and services such as security, which are essential to plan and run the Games.

French President Emmanuel Macron still fully supports the 2030 Winter Games, national Olympic leader David Lappartient said at a news conference.

"Even if there is not a majority in the parliament, there is a strong majority behind the games," said Lappartient, adding progress was made in recent weeks that let a conditional vote be agreed.

Lappartient has a growing reputation as a potential successor to Bach, especially after helping the IOC steer the first Olympic Esports Games to Saudi Arabia in a 12-year hosting deal. That deal was formally approved Tuesday after a 25-minute presentation by Saudi Olympic officials seeking to promote how the kingdom is