STOCKHOLM (AP) — Sweden’s Olympic leaders are weighing up whether to bid for the Winter Games in 2030.
The Nordic country’s potential entry into the race to stage the 2030 Games comes at a time when the International Olympic Committee has delayed the process and is searching around for more contenders to host the event.
Sapporo, Japan, was considered the favorite before an ongoing bid-rigging scandal related to the Summer Olympics in Tokyo held in 2021. Salt Lake City is the only other known bidder that might consider taking 2030, though officials have said they favor a bid for 2034.
A joint Stockholm-Are bid from Sweden lost out to another shared bid, from Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo in Italy, to stage the Winter Games in 2026 amid a lack of clear public support in Sweden and some government upheaval at local and national level in the run-up to the vote.
There was reportedly discontent in Stockholm over how the Swedish bid was treated in the contest for the 2026 Games.
The Swedish Olympic and Paralympic Committees and the Swedish Sports Confederation will start a feasibility study for 2030, they said Wednesday.
“These are new times now and the feasibility study will show how the Olympics and Paralympics can be shaped based on Sweden’s conditions,” said Anders Larsson, acting chairman of the Swedish Olympic Committee. “We already have virtually all the arenas required to arrange the largest Winter Games.”
Sweden hosted the Summer Olympics in 1912 but never a Winter Games, despite the country being an established winter sports nation.
It has made eight failed bids to stage the Winter Games.
Gunilla Lindberg, who is secretary general of the Swedish Olympic Committee, is also an IOC member and on the panel tasked with finding potential future hosts for the Winter Games.
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