The messes of the Olympic candidacy of Barcelona are more than welcome in Sapporo, Vancouver and Salt Lake City. What do these three cities have in common? That they have hosted a Winter Games and that, together with the Catalan capital, they are the three that have applied to do it again in 2030.
The IOC already started at the end of last month in Salt Lake City (USA) the visits to the applicants and last week he also moved to vancouver (Canada). In addition to the two American proposals, Sapporo (Japan) stands as one of Barcelona’s firm rivals should it finally show up. Unlike the other three, the Catalan capital has the advantage that the Pyrenees have never experienced a Winter Games. But the mines that are coming out at every step have already suspended a visit from the IOC and that the rivals have won places in the Olympic race.
The IOC, which has already postponed a trip to Barcelona, has already visited the two American venues.
Until two decades ago, Salt Lake City was known internationally for being the home of the Utah Jazz and the epicenter of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormons. In 2002, the North American city took center stage around the world by organizing the Winter Games. Despite the fact that the event was marred by a corruption scandal and vote buying in the Olympic election, now it has many numbers to repeat. It keeps the infrastructures created for 2002 active and calculates a cost of 2,200 million euros to be able to organize just 18 months after the USA hosts another Olympic event: Los Angeles, which set up the summer event in 1984, will repeat it in July 2028. proximity of dates is perhaps its main handicap.
Japan returns after the earthquake
The closeness with tokyo games of last year is also the big drawback for Sapporo, which was going to be the winter venue in 1940, but the appointment was suspended due to the Second World War. She had to wait more than three decades for the Olympic fire to arrive in 1972. She is, of the three applicants to repeat, the one that had to put out her cauldron the longest: almost 60 years after that appointment and 90 after the frustrated for the weapons. The Japanese city was already going to apply for 2026, but the earthquake that shook Hokkaido in 2018 changed the plans and Sapporo, the Japanese Olympic Committee and the IOC agreed not to be included in the final vote in 2026, but that the dialogue would continue to the 2030 Games. The IOC values the fact that the infrastructures are practically all done and also the political support for the project.
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The least recently the Olympic flag waved is in Vancouver, where it was raised in 2010. At the level of facilities they are also perfectly prepared to repeat, although, unlike Sapporo, there is some uncertainty about political support.
colleen hardwick, one of the candidates for mayor in the elections next October, has proposed holding a referendum to decide whether or not Vancouver should take the step. A hypothetical consultation in Canada, like the one planned in the Catalan Pyrenees on July 24, could change the list of candidates.