Swiss minister in favour of hosting Winter Games but no bid plans yet

GENEVA: Switzerland's sports minister supports hosting the Winter Olympic Games in a way that would be sustainable and garner broad popular support, but no decisions have been made on a possible bid, her ministry said on Friday (Jul 21).

In a statement emailed to Reuters, it said Sports Minister Viola Amherd is "fundamentally in favour of efforts to organise sustainable, broad-based Games tailored to Switzerland".

"At present, there are no concrete indications or decisions on possible candidacies," it added.

The ministry's statement confirms a report published on Friday in the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper, which cited an internal letter from the country's National Olympic Committee.

Switzerland - which hosted the Winter Olympic Games in St. Moritz in 1928 and 1948 - in recent years has struggled to get its population behind its Olympic bids.

Its efforts to host the Games have been rejected in referendums on several occasions.

A public vote saw Switzerland withdraw its bid to host the 2026 Winter Olympics, which will be held in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo.

The country has never hosted the Summer Olympics.

Switzerland is also home to the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne and those of several international sports governing bodies.