By Nathan Frandino
PARIS (Reuters) – Utah governor Spencer Cox said there were nerves, excitement and energy among members of his delegation in Paris on the eve of the International Olympic Committee’s expected announcement that Salt Lake City will host the 2034 Winter Olympics.
Utah’s capital is the only city in the running and is set to be confirmed on Wednesday, with France expected to be given the 2030 Winter Games.
“We felt it on the plane as we were all boarding yesterday,” Cox said about the mixture of emotions at a welcoming event hosted by U.S. Embassy staff.
“We felt it as we as we landed. We felt it in this place today as people are cheering the Olympic movement.”
The two hosts got the nod from the IOC’s Executive Board last month, the penultimate step towards becoming Olympic Winter Games hosts in what is largely a rubberstamping of the board’s recommendation.
The two sites had already been picked as the only preferred bidders for their respective Games in November 2023.
The French bid, which involves the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur regions, has scored points for its plan to hold the Games in four separate clusters as well as for its strong support from the public and private sector.
Salt Lake City, which had initially wanted to bid for the 2030 event but dropped those plans due to the date being too close to the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, looks set to host the Games for a second time after 2002.
“In 2002 Utah desperately needed the Olympics. We needed it. It helped put us on the map. It helped us with some economic challenges, infrastructure challenges,” Cox said.
“It’s a lot different this time around, I think. I think the Olympic movement needs Utah. We’ve done this before and we have a chance to give back in a very positive way.”
(Writing by Rory Carroll in Paris; Editing by Toby Davis)
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