IOC postpone Winter Olympics 2030 host election

LAUSANNE, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board (EB) announced Tuesday the host election of the 2030 Winter Olympic Games will not take place at the 140th IOC Session in 2023 as scheduled.

Olympic rings seen in front of the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. (Photo: CFP)

The announcement was made after the second day of the EB meeting here at the headquarters of IOC when the Future Host Commission for the Olympic Winter Games proposed a number of new principles to outline the future host.

Salt Lake City of the United States, Sapporo of Japan and Vancouver of Canada are the potential bidding parties for the 2030 Olympics.

"This means that the IOC is no longer targeting a 2030 host election at the 140th IOC Session in 2023. The three Interested Parties in Continuous Dialogue have been informed today about these discussions," according to the IOC statement.

IOC Member Octavian Morariu, leader of the Future Host Commission for the Olympic Winter Games, requested the EB to reduce the number of hosts and rotate the Games within a pool of hosts.

With the concerns of climate change and the sustainability of winter sports, the Commission also asked "a proposal that hosts would need to show average minimum temperatures of below zero degrees for snow competition venues at the time of the Games over a 10-year period."

"(These) could have an impact on future elections," the IOC statement said. "Upon the request of the Commission, the EB decided to give the Commission more time to study all these factors and opportunities to make the best possible decisions about future hosting."

There was also a discussion about a double award for 2030 and 2034, to create stability for winter sports and the Olympic Winter Games.