Just days before the first round of what’s being called France’s most consequential political election in decades, French bidders for the 2030 Winter Games pitched their plans to the International Olympic Committee.
Like Utah’s presentation about the 2034 Winter Games made virtually Wednesday to some 100 members of the Switzerland-based IOC, the meeting held the same day with backers of France’s French Alps bid was private.
But a report from France suggests IOC members had a few questions about France’s plans. IOC officials had announced earlier this month the bid was on hold until after a surprise national parliamentary election called is concluded.
French President Emmanuel Macron dissolved France’s national legislative body and called the election in the wake of far-right victories for seats in the European Union parliament. Rounds of voting will be held on Sunday and July 7.
At issue for the French Alps bid for the Winter Games are the government guarantees required by the IOC that any financial shortfalls would be covered by local or national authorities. In Utah, it’s the state that provides that assurance, although the 2034 Winter Games would be privately funded.
Whether that came up during France’s time with IOC members on Wednesday is not clear. FrancsJeux.com, a French-language website about the Games, described the guarantees as having been “postponed” by the election.
“The political uncertainty does not help, but the project leaders assured the IOC that the guarantees would be signed between July 8 and 24,” the website said in a post about the bid presentations according to a translation, adding that no “gray areas” were revealed by either France or Utah.
“Both cases have already been won,” the FrancsJeux.com post concluded.
French IOC member David Lappartient, the president of France’s national Olympic committee, was quoted in the post as saying afterwards there were a “few questions, four or five, of a rather sporting nature” without elaborating.
Lappartient, whose comments were said to have come from an interview with L’Equipe, a national sports newspaper in France, also said, “The IOC members felt the complementarity between the Olympic movement, the regions, the state, and others commitments.”
Both bids were named preferred hosts late last year and face no competition. IOC leaders advanced both to a final vote of the full membership, set to be held on July 24, celebrated as Pioneer Day in Utah, at an IOC annual session just before the start of the 2024 Summer Games in Paris.