# 2030 Winter Olympics

The 2030 Winter Olympics (French: Jeux olympiques d'hiver de 2030), officially known as the XXVI Olympic Winter Games 2030 (French: XXVI$^{es}$ Jeux Olympiques d'hiver) and branded as French Alps 2030 (French: Alpes Françaises 2030), is an upcoming international multi-sport event scheduled to take place from 1 to 17 February 2030 in France. The French Alps bid was elected at the 142nd IOC Session in Paris on 24 July 2024, two days before the start of the 2024 Summer Olympics.
This will be the first time in history that the Olympics will be officially hosted by two regions, with Nice as the host of ice sports, except for speed skating. Additional venues will be shared by the departments of Alpes-Maritimes and Hautes-Alpes in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, and the departments of Haute-Savoie and Savoie in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. These games will be the second consecutive Winter Olympic Games to be hosted in the Alps, following the 2026 Winter Olympics, hosted by Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo.

## Bidding process

The new IOC bidding process was approved at the 134th IOC Session on 24 June 2019 in Lausanne, Switzerland. The key proposals, driven by the relevant recommendations from Olympic Agenda 2020, are:
* Establish a permanent, ongoing dialogue to explore and create interest among cities/regions/countries and National Olympic Committees for any Olympic event
* Create two Future Host Commissions (Summer and Winter Games) to oversee interest in future Olympic events and report to the IOC executive board
* Give the IOC Session more influence by having non-executive board members form part of the Future Host Commissions.
The IOC also modified the Olympic Charter to increase its flexibility in choosing hosts by making the date of elections more flexible and allowing multiple cities, regions, or countries to host instead of only single cities, regions or countries.
According to the Future Host Commission's rules of conduct, the new IOC bidding system is divided into 2 dialogue stages:
* Continuous dialogue involving non-committal discussions between the IOC and interested parties (City/Region/Country/NOC interested in hosting) with regard to hosting future Olympic events.
* Targeted dialogue with one or more interested parties—called preferred host(s)—as instructed by the IOC Executive Board. This follows a recommendation by the Future Host Commission as a result of continuous dialogue. Following a recommendation by the International Olympic Committee (IOC)'s Future Host Commission for the Olympic Winter Games, the IOC Executive Board (EB) on 29 November 2023 invited the French National Olympic Committee (CNOSF) into "Targeted Dialogue" towards hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games 2030 in the French Alps.

### Host selection

The French Alps was conditionally confirmed as the host of the 2030 Winter Olympics at the 142nd IOC Session on 24 July 2024 in Paris, France, pending the resolution of financial issues. As per the new format of choosing future Olympic Games host cities from the IOC's Agenda 2020, the vote was in the form of a referendum to the 95 IOC delegates. Like the 2024 and 2028 Summer Olympics, the 2030 and 2034 Winter Olympics were awarded simultaneously; the first to France and the second to the United States. The country had previously bid for the 2018 edition, with Annecy as its city, but lost to Pyeongchang. France decided to bid for the Winter Games again 13 years after Annecy's failure.
These will be the first Winter Olympics since the 1980 Winter Olympics in which the host city won the hosting rights without competing against other host cities in voting.

## Organisation

Due to financial concerns triggered by the 2024 French political crisis, the country was selected to host the games "conditionally." The IOC stated that the French authorities "must now deliver key financial guarantees in the coming months" to confirm the selection.

## Development and preparations

The impacts of climate change have become a central focus of the International Olympic Committee in planning the Winter Olympics. According to the IOC, the number of NOCs capable of hosting the Winter Olympics—which require access to snow competition venues with adequate temperature and snowfall—has declined to "practically just 10-12".
As a result of these challenges, the decision on the 2030 Winter Olympics host city was delayed until 24 July 2024 to allow the IOC more time to carefully plan the future of the Winter Olympics. The IOC awarded both the 2030 and 2034 Winter Olympics at the 142nd IOC Session in Paris, on the eve of the 2024 Summer Olympics.

### Venues

Organizers have not yet decided where within the region the opening ceremony will take place. There has also been no decision on who will receive the Olympic flag during the closing ceremony of the 2026 Winter Games.The only certainty about the ceremonies is that the closing ceremony will be held at the Promenade des Anglais in Nice. The head of the organizing committee, Edgar Grospiron, has hinted in an interview with Le Monde that one of the options for the venue of the opening ceremony is Metropolis of Lyon, as the organizing committee is headquartered in Parc Olympique Lyonnais in Décines-Charpieu.
Unlike the previous hosts, the only sport that does not yet have a confirmed venue is speed skating, as the French have committed not to build any new competition venues within the IOC's new sustainability policies led by the Agenda 2030. The organizers are studying possibilities ranging from constructing a temporary arena in Nice or any other city in the region, renovating existing facilities in Grenoble or Albertville, or even holding competitions in a neighboring country. Within this measures, the mayor of Turin, the biggest city near the host region, Stefano Lo Russo announced that the city, which hosted the 2006 Winter Olympics, was invited by the organizers of this edition to host the long track speed skating events at Oval Lingotto, since this is the closest existing competition venue to the host region. However, both the IOC and the organizers have not yet officially announced which option has been chosen.

#### Nice Cluster

| Venue | Events | Capacity | Status |
| New arena | Figure skating | 10,000 | Planned |
| New arena | Short track speed skating | 10,000 | Planned |
| Stade de Nice | Ice hockey | 17.000 (Arena 1) | Existing.The stadium will be divided into two indoor arenas for the ice hockey tournament. |
| Stade de Nice | Ice hockey | 17,000 (Arena 2) | Existing.The stadium will be divided into two indoor arenas for the ice hockey tournament. |
| Palais Nikaïa | Curling | 6.500 | Existing |
| Promenade des Anglais | Closing Ceremony | TBA | Existing |

#### Briançon Cluster

| Venue | Events | Capacity | Status |
| Serre Chevalier | Freestyle skiing & Snowboarding (aerials, moguls, halfpipe) | 3,500-5,000 | Existing, renovated |
| Montgenèvre | Freestyle skiing & Snowboarding (big air, slopestyle, parallel giant slalom) | 3,500-5,000 | Existing, renovated |
| TBA | Snowboarding (cross) | TBA | TBA |
| TBA | Freestyle skiing (ski cross) | TBA | TBA |

#### Savoie Cluster

| Venue | Events | Capacity | Status |
| La Plagne | Bobsleigh | 15,000-16,000 | Existing, renovated |
| La Plagne | Luge | 15,000-16,000 | Existing, renovated |
| La Plagne | Skeleton | 15,000-16,000 | Existing, renovated |
| Courchevel | Alpine skiing (men's) | TBA | Existing |
| Courchevel | Ski jumping | TBA | Existing |
| Courchevel | Nordic combined | TBA | Existing |
| Méribel | Alpine skiing (women's) | 23,000 | Existing |
| Méribel | Nordic combined | 23,000 | Existing |

#### Haute-Savoie Cluster

| Venue | Events | Capacity | Status |
| La Clusaz | Cross-country skiing | 12,500 | Existing |
| Le Grand-Bornand | Biathlon | 12,000-15,000 | Existing |

## Sports

The International Olympic Committee approved at the 142nd IOC Session the initial sports programme: biathlon, bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey, luge, skating, and skiing. The disciplines in each sport will be determined in late 2025.
Various sanctioning bodies have announced plans to pursue bids for sports to be added to the 2030 Winter Olympics:
* On 1 November 2024, the International Ice Hockey Federation announced they were preparing to bid for the inclusion of 3x3 ice hockey, which is a discipline that has been used at the Winter Youth Olympics since 2020. If selected, the sport's venue could be a new €‎58 million ice hockey arena being built in Chamonix.
* In 2024, UCI president David Lappartient and the president of World Athletics Sebastian Coe joined hands in pushing for both cyclo-cross as well cross-country running to be included in the 2030 Games.
* In February 2025, numerous French ice climber athletes have requested the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation to pursue ice climbing for the 2030 Winter Olympics and expand the sport's reach. Champagny-en-Vanoise, near Courchevel in the northern French Alps, has hosted the UIAA Ice Climbing World Cup numerous times, and the venue for it has been recently renovated to be able to host larger scale competitions.

## Broadcasting rights

In France, pay television and streaming rights are owned by Warner Bros. Discovery via Eurosport, with free-to-air coverage owned by France Télévisions under a sublicense agreement with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). On 16 January 2023, the IOC announced that it had renewed its European broadcast rights agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery. The agreement, covering from 2026 to 2032, includes pay television and streaming rights to the Summer, Winter, and Youth Olympics on Eurosport and Discovery+ in 49 European territories. Free-to-air rights packages were concurrently awarded to the EBU and its members to cover at least 100 hours of each Winter Olympics, with EBU member France Télévisions agreeing to broadcast the Games in France.
| Territory | Rights holder |
| Albania | RTSH |
| Asia | Infront Sports & Media |
| Australia | Nine |
| Austria | ORF |
| Belgium | RTBF, VRT |
| Brazil | Grupo Globo |
| Bulgaria | BNT |
| Canada | CBC/Radio-Canada |
| China | CMG |
| Croatia | HRT |
| Czech Republic | ČT |
| Denmark | DR, TV 2 |
| Europe (except Russia and Belarus) | EBU, Warner Bros. Discovery |
| Estonia | ERR |
| Finland | Yle |
| France | France Télévisions |
| Germany | ARD, ZDF |
| Greece | ERT |
| Hungary | MTVA |
| Iceland | RÚV |
| Ireland | RTÉ |
| Israel | Sports Channel |
| Italy | RAI |
| Japan | Japan Consortium |
| Latvia | LTV |
| Kosovo | RTK |
| Lithuania | LRT |
| Mexico | TelevisaUnivision |
| Montenegro | RTCG |
| Netherlands | NOS |
| Norway | NRK |
| Poland | TVP |
| Slovakia | STVR |
| Slovenia | RTV |
| Korea | JTBC |
| Spain | RTVE |
| Sweden | SVT |
| Switzerland | SRG SSR |
| Ukraine | Suspilne |
| United Kingdom | BBC |
| United States | NBCUniversal |