Games' 2030-2034 double awarding adds stability to Olympic movement, says IOC

PARIS : The simultaneous awarding of the 2030 and 2034 Winter Olympics last month provides stability for the Olympic movement and a similar decision cannot be ruled out for future Games, the International Olympic Committee said on Tuesday.

France's Alpine bid was picked for the 2030 Games while Salt Lake City, who hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics, was chosen for 2034.

It was only the second time ever the IOC decided on two hosts at the same time, after selecting Paris and Los Angeles for the 2024 and 2028 Summer Games back in 2017.

In an interview with Reuters, Jacqueline Barrett, the IOC's future Olympic Games hosts director, said having the choice of two strong proposals was what led to that decision.

"We did not set out to do a double award," Barrett said. "If special circumstances arise to be able to seize opportunities... here we found ourselves in a situation with two great projects. And we thought we don't want to let these projects go.

"It provides security for the future, for the athletes principally, the Olympic movement, the partners," she added.

The IOC has now picked all Summer and Winter Games hosts until 2034, with Italy's Milano-Cortina hosting the 2026 Winter edition and Brisbane staging the 2032 Summer Games.

The IOC reformed the bidding process in recent years and instead of candidates openly competing for two years before an IOC vote, there is now a closed-door dialogue with interested parties before a preferred candidate is picked and then put to the vote to the IOC membership.

This has led to a sharply reduced cost for bidding, which in the past could go up to as much as $100 million and involved considerable planning and consultancy fees, scaring off a number of candidates.

In the case of 2030 and 2034 Games