(Paris) The International Olympic Committee will put to a vote on Wednesday the awarding of the 2030 Winter Olympics to the French Alps, but will do so “under conditions”, since a state guarantee is lacking, the body’s president Thomas Bach announced on Tuesday.
“Without a confirmed guarantee, there can be no unconditional vote. So since the French government cannot give us this guarantee for constitutional reasons, we will attach conditions to the vote,” the German leader told reporters.
He did not specify the content of these conditions or the possible holding of a subsequent vote to definitively ratify the designation of the French Alps as hosts of the 2030 Olympic Games.
Gathered for their 142e session, the IOC members were supposed to award Wednesday by a double vote the 2030 and 2034 Winter Games, respectively to the French Alps and to the American city of Salt Lake City, without competition.
But if the designation of the capital of Utah, already host of the 2002 Olympic Games, is not in doubt, “the political situation makes things a little more complicated” for the French dossier, acknowledged Mark Adams, the IOC spokesman, on Saturday.
In the absence of a fully functioning government, France was unable to provide a document required by the Olympic organisation: the guarantee of delivery of the Games, which must be signed by the Prime Minister, without Emmanuel Macron having the authority to replace him.
This setback does not imply a rejection of the French candidacy, especially since it passed all the stages required by the IOC in the spring – including site visits – and Sweden and Switzerland appear clearly out of the running.
But until recently, according to concordant sources, the question was being asked as to the path that the IOC would choose to protect the host country a few days before the Paris Games (July 26 – August 11), since it also had the possibility of postponing the vote to a later session.