PARIS — The Winter Games will make a return visit to Salt Lake City in 2034 while the 2030 Olympics were tentatively set for the French Alps, officials said Wednesday.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall and other organizing officials were in Paris this week, meeting with International Olympic Committee members and shoring up support for their bid to bring the Winter Games back to its 2002 site.
Salt Lake City had appeared to be a 2034 shoo-in for weeks, but late concerns came from the IOC, about U.S. authorities possibly not supporting the embattled World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
U.S. lawmakers had launched an investigation into alleged doping by Chinese swimmers ahead of the Tokyo games, perhaps undermining WADA's authority.
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"The last 10 days of my life were totally unexpected," Fraser Bullock, head of the Salt Lake City bid, told NBC affiliate KSL minutes after the vote for Salt Lake City. "We were just cruising towards the final award and then this came up and we had to address it."
But with an 83-6 vote for Salt Lake City to host, Bullock said he believes the IOC has total confidence in 2034 organizers.
"We believe that we can make a few adjustments that will help the U.S. and world anti-doping community come together and not have disagreements," Bullock said. "We actually believe this will be constructive."
Each venue for 2034 already exists or will be built for temporary use, thus not saddling local taxpayers with ongoing costs or an underutilized facility, according to Bullock.