Born in Africa and educated collegiately in the United States, Kirsty Coventry made history on Monday in assuming the role of President of the International Olympic Committee, the first woman and first African to hold the role in more than a century of the IOC.

Coventry, 41, formally takes office Tuesday after winning a seven-candidate election in March to succeed Thomas Bach. Her first term at IOC president will last eight years during which four Olympic Games will be held — 2026 Winter in Italy, 2028 Summer in Los Angeles, 2030 Winter in France and the 2032 Summer Games in Brisbane.

The ceremony took place in a temporary building in the gardens of Olympic House designed in the style of the Grand Palais in Paris that hosted fencing and taekwondo at the Games last year.

“I am really honored I get to walk this journey with you,” Coventry said. “I cannot wait for anything that lies ahead. I know I have the best team to support me and our movement over the next eight years.”

When Coventry was born in 1983, the IOC had only three women in its organization and was only two years removed from having been an entire male IOC membership. Today, there are 48 women among the 110 IOC members.

Coventry is an Olympic swimming champion who competed collegiately at Auburn University. A seven-time Olympic medalist who won gold in the 200-meter backstroke in 2004 in Athens and 2008 in Beijing, Coventry was the second female candidate to run for president, following American Anita DeFrantz in 2001.

The first Games in which Coventry will oversee is next winter in Italy with preparations underway in Milan and Cortina. However, the 2028 Games in Los Angeles have been foisted as a potential political landmine for the IOC. It will fall in the final months of President Donald Trump’s second term with recent controversy over travel bans for countries that would be part of the Games.

With Games already awarded in 2030 (Winter, French Alps), 2032 (Summer, Brisbane) and 2034 (Winter, Salt Lake City), Coventry will oversee the process of looking for a host for the 2036 Summer Games; India has been repeatedly mentioned by IOC insiders as a likely candidate for targeted dialogue with an eye toward being given host duties.

Coventry will hold a two-day workshop this week to get feedback from members.

“Working together and consistently finding ways to strengthen and keep united our movement that will ensure that we wake up daily… to continue to inspire,” she said.

Bach’s 12-year tenure as president was marked by a global pandemic, the hosting of Games that had less-than-stellar television ratings within the United States and a top-down approach to the role of IOC president that sometimes members chafed under.

His reign also ended on a high as the Olympic movement was revitalized last summer with what was universally regarded as a tremendous 2024 Games in Paris, which came close to perfection in executing Bach’s Olympic Legacy 2020 project in organizing a Games that did not result in massive budgetary venue overruns, instead brilliantly mixing the city’s historic locations and turning them into a series of temporary sports venues.

“I believe with all my heart that the Olympic movement is ready for the future,” said Bach on Monday, adding he had “given all I could” to the IOC and the games.

Pierre Ducrey, who joined the IOC in 2003 from the United Nations in Geneva, will be the organization’s new sport director.

Before joining the IOC, Ducrey worked with the Special Advisor to the UN Secretary General on the promotion of peace and development through sport. In his new role, Ducrey will work closely with the International Federations, the athletes, the Organising Committees and the Health, Medicine and Science and Olympic Program Commissions.

“His experience within the IOC and the Olympic Movement, and expertise in planning and delivering the Games and in stakeholder management, will be invaluable in the further development of the activities of the Sports Department,” IOC Director General Christophe De Kepper said. “I would also like to thank Kit McConnell for the excellent work he has undertaken over more than 10 years. I wish him all the best in his future endeavors and I look forward to pursuing our fruitful collaboration with both of them in their new roles.”

Ducrey began his career at the IOC in the Sports Department, first working on the development of athlete-related projects and the Olympic program before focusing on relations with International Federations and sports operations. In 2010, he joined the Olympic Games Department.

Kit McConnell will be leaving his role as sports director at the IOC to become the chief sport officer for the 2032 organizers. McConnell has had an extensive career across the international sporting landscape and Olympic Movement, dating to his role as part of the Sydney 2000 Games Organizing Committee.

Kirsty Coventry completed a ceremonial baton change before she takes over as International Olympic Committee president next month, handing off oversight of preparations for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Summer Games during a three-day inspection visit.

Mikaela Cojuangco Jaworski replaced Coventry as head of the IOC’s coordination commission for the 2032 Summer Games after the Olympic swimming champion from Zimbabwe was elected to take over from Thomas Bach in the sporting organization’s top job.

“I’m here to formally hand over the baton, or the Olympic flame … boomerang!” Coventry said as she introduced Jaworski at a news conference Thursday at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium. “I hope that I’m leaving some good vibes.”

Coventry made her Olympic debut at the 2000 Games in Sydney and has family living in Australia.

“I’m very excited about what Brisbane 2032 is going to do,” she said. “Not just for the region, but for Australia and for the world.”

It took more than 1,000 days and at least three major concept changes before a newly elected Queensland state government settled on a comprehensive venue plan in March. That includes a new 60,000-seat stadium and an aquatics center to be built in parklands close to Brisbane, as well as proposals to share events with regions outside the capital. The call to host rowing in a crocodile-inhabited river in Rockhampton has attracted concern and criticism from the public and sports administrators.

IOC Olympic Games Executive Director Christophe Dubi said there is no need to panic with seven years until the Games.

“The plan always changes and generally they change for the better,” he said. “The question is not so much whether the plan has changed — it has — but is it a better plan? The answer is yes.”

Andrew Liveris, president of the local organizing committee, said venue construction is likely to begin later next year.

“From an operational standpoint, it’s absolutely doable,” Dubi said. “You have also this opportunity to have this venue and this number of spectators, hence creating that precinct atmosphere downtown, and that will be something incredibly special.”

In March, the IOC Executive Board confirmed that the initial program will be determined at an IOC Session in 2026. The Organizing Committee will also have the opportunity to propose additional events from new sports, with a submission expected next year. Kit McConnell will be leaving his role as sports director at the IOC to become the chief sport officer for the 2032 organizers.

Female athletes will be in the majority at an Olympics for the first time at the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles after the soccer competition was flipped to have 16 women’s teams and 12 men’s teams.

For the first time in history, all team sports will have at least the same number of women’s teams as men’s teams. That decision by the IOC executive board helped push the core quota of athletes for LA to 50.7% women and 49.3% men — 5,333 for women and 5,167 for men, the IOC said.

The gap is closed slightly when athletes for the sports being added specially to the LA28 program — involving 322 female and 376 male competitors — are included. Those sports include cricket, flag football and lacrosse.

“The message of gender equality is a really important one for us,” Outgoing IOC Sports Director Kit McConnell said. ““We really thank LA 28 for supporting this. It’s central to their vision as well.”

The LA28 program maintains the athlete quota of 10,500, with an extra 698 places allocated for baseball/softball, cricket, flag football, lacrosse and squash. Squash will have 16 men and 16 women playing in singles while the other team sports will be six-country events.

There will also be an additional women’s weight category in boxing and two additional women’s water polo teams. There will be expanded mixed events in archery, athletics (4x100m mixed relay), golf, gymnastics, rowing coastal beach sprint and table tennis.

The IOC also approved new medal opportunities in several sports; 3×3 basketball will be expanded from eight teams to 12 per gender and sport climbing boulder and lead events will be separate medal events. Swimming will have 50-meter backstroke, butterfly and breaststroke events for both men and women. With the moves, swimming will feature 41 medal events at the Games for the first time, an increase from the 35 medal events at Paris 2024 and Tokyo 2020. There will now be 55 medal events at LA28, the most ever for any sport at a Games.

“Today’s decision is a testament to the continued evolution of swimming at the Olympic Games,” World Aquatics President Husain Al Musallam said. “Including these six new events enhances the programme’s balance and adds more opportunities for athletes to showcase their skills on the world’s biggest stage. We thank the IOC for their support in expanding Olympic swimming and can’t wait to watch these incredible athletes compete under the Southern California sky and stars in SoFi Stadium.”

The progress for women athletes was made at an online board meeting Wednesday co-chaired in Lausanne for the first time by Kirsty Coventry as president-elect since her win last month. In June she will formally replace her mentor Thomas Bach and become the IOC’s first female leader in its 131-year history.

2030 Host Contract Signed

The IOC Executive Board also approved the IOC’s countersigning of the French Alps 2030 Olympic Host Contract. The French Alps were elected to host the 2030 Games at the 142nd IOC Session in Paris and since then, two successive governments have provided guarantees and the French Parliament approved the budget law in February.

Prime Minister François Bayrou wrote to the IOC in Marc and included commitments with respect to the next steps of the budget law. In the same letter, financial commitment of the French Government was issued, which allowed for the two regions (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur) to also confirm their financial engagement.

Kirsty Coventry has been elected as president of the International Olympic Committee, vaulting into one of the most pressure-filled and prominent roles in the world of sport while making history as the first woman to hold the role.

Coventry was elected on Thursday in Greece at the IOC Session. She won in the first round of voting over a field of six other candidates to become the 10th president in the organization’s history.

Coventry, the sports minister of Zimbabwe, is an Olympic swimming champion who competed collegiately at Auburn University. A seven-time Olympic medalist who won gold in the 200-meter backstroke in 2004 in Athens and 2008 in Beijing, Coventry was the second female candidate to run for president, following American Anita DeFrantz in 2001. From 2018-21, Coventry was athlete representative on the IOC executive board.

Along with being the first female president, she is the first African leader in the IOC’s 131-year history. Ever since IOC President Thomas Bach announced during the 2024 Games in Paris that he would be stepping down, it was believed that Coventry was his preferred choice as a successor.

There were multiple reports that Bach, despite rules against lobbying, had been doing so on Coventry’s behalf ahead of the election. Coventry was seen as one of three leading candidates along with Sebastian Coe and Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. leading into Thursday’s election.

The presidential election took on a private method of campaigning; candidates could not publish campaign videos, organize public meetings or take part in public debates. Each of the seven were allowed to write a manifesto laying out their respective presidential visions in December before a presentation to the IOC membership in January that was closed to the public.

In a process likened to a papal election — and in the IOC’s view, perhaps even more important — only election monitors were allowed in the room as members voted. Coventry got 49 votes, the minimum needed for a majority in the first round. Samaranch, her expected closest rival, got 28 votes and  Coe, in third place, got eight.

Those three were the leading candidates from a field of seven. The rest of the field was Prince Feisal al Hussein of Jordan, a member of the IOC executive board, followed by UCI President David Lappartient, FIS President Johan Eliasch, Samaranch, Coe and FIG President Morinari Watanabe.

The Candidates Who Fell Short

Samaranch joined the IOC in 2001 when his father, also Juan Antonio Samaranch, left after 21 years as president. He has spent seven years as a vice president and before joining the IOC, he was vice president of the UIPM, the organization that organizes modern pentathlon. Samaranch served on the organizing committees for multiple Winter and Summer Games.

Samaranch grew up in Franco’s Spain, experienced the Soviet Union when his father was ambassador there, worked in 1980s banking and finance in the U.S. and is well connected in China. Samaranch was the IOC’s point person preparing for the 2022 Beijing Winter Games during the pandemic and delivered a manifesto with the most policy proposals.

Coe leads track’s World Athletics, organized the 2012 London Olympics and was viewed as perhaps the most qualified candidate. He is a two-time Olympic champion in track in the 1980s and four-time Olympic medalist overall. But Coe’s candidacy and standing within some of the other international federations took a hit when, ahead of the 2024 Games in Paris, he announced that gold-medal winners in athletics would get a $50,000 bonus.

The IOC, in its own subtle fashion, made opaque references that within the movement were seen as criticisms of the move although athletes obviously were approving. Coe also disrupted the status quo when saying that he would present himself for re-election after four years instead of eight.

Of those four others that were in the presidential field, Lappartient had the most name recognition, having been prominent during the organization of the 2024 Games in Paris. He has taken on roles in developing the IOC’s approach to esports and helped guide through the Alps’ rushed but ultimately successful bid to host the 2030 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

Eliasch and Hussein had slight criticisms toward the opaqueness of the process but were never seen as top contenders even with legitimate, extensive backgrounds in business and international sport, even if they finished ahead of Samaranch and Coe in the first round. Neither was Watanabe, who tried to drum up publicity for his candidacy by visiting athletes in both Ukraine and Russia and whose manifesto proposed having five cities in five continents host a future Games to create a 24-hour global event.

The New President’s Inbox

The first Games in which Coventry will oversee is next winter in Italy with preparations underway in Milan and Cortina; its main outstanding issue will be what happens to the sliding track in Cortina and whether the rebuilt venue, which the IOC was less than thrilled with the cost of, will be approved for use. Should it not, bobsled, luge and skeleton will be held not in Europe but instead in Lake Placid, New York.

However, the next Summer Games will land squarely on Coventry’s desk. The 2028 Games in Los Angeles have been foisted as a potential political landmine for the IOC. It will fall in the final months of President Donald Trump’s second term; Trump recently said he would ban transgender athletes from women’s sport, which goes against an IOC rule. The U.S. visa program — and current restrictions for more than 40 countries who should compete in L.A. — was the subject of a question at Thursday’s IOC Session from IOC member Ingmar de Vos, the equestrian official who leads the collective group of Summer Games sports bodies.

De Vos cited a “red list” ban on travel to the U.S. from 11 countries. LA28 Chairman Casey Wasserman replied that his team made “significant strides” with the administration.

“I have met with President Trump and his team both prior to his inauguration and again last month,” Wasserman said. “We have a regular cadence across all federal agencies with leadership from the president to make sure that these Games deliver for all our constituents.”

“I don’t anticipate any, any problems from any countries to come and participate,” Wasserman replied, noting the U.S. State Department has a “fully staffed desk” to help prepare.

“In my many conversations with President Trump and Secretary (Marco) Rubio they understand the scale and complexity required to deliver these Games, the access required for not just athletes but for delegations, and the incredibly short time frame on which to do those.”

With Games already awarded in 2030 (Winter, French Alps), 2032 (Summer, Brisbane) and 2034 (Winter, Salt Lake City). “Kirsty Coventry represents a bright future for the Olympic Movement and the unity it brings to our world,” said Fraser Bullock, executive chair and president of the 2034 SLC Organizing Commitee. “As we lead up to the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City-Utah, we will look to her guidance as an accomplished Olympic champion, and a young next-generational leader who has been a strong athlete voice and understands full well the impact the Olympic Movement can have on humanity.”

Coventry will oversee the process of looking for a host for the 2036 Summer Games. Those Games could have a host of prospective new markets for the IOC with India and Qatar, among others, showing interest in bidding. One potential question would be whether the 2036 Games would move dates because of climate change. Bach has hinted in the past that the future global sports calendar would be in flux because of rising temperatures and extreme weather; while the general thought was that was in regard to the Winter Games, such issues also extend to the Summer Games.

There is also the issue of Russia. The IOC has allowed Russian athletes to continue competing as neutral athletes at recent Games in the wake of the country’s widespread doping program that dates a decade. The IOC banned Russia from team sports at the Games in Paris after its invasion of Ukraine, allowing a limited number of individual athletes to compete.

Bach’s Legacy

Bach’s 12-year tenure as president was marked by a global pandemic, the hosting of Games that had less-than-stellar television ratings within the United States and a top-down approach to the role of IOC president and its executive board that some of the candidates ahead of the election gently tried to criticize as being not in line with the majority of members’ wishes.

The Games that were held under Bach as president were a mixed bag. The 2014 Winter Games in Sochi were his first and were then regarded as Vladimir Putin’s play for global sporting prestige no matter the construction cost; those games now are known best for Russia’s government-led doping scandal that hinted at the issues the IOC and Bach would have with the country in the years to come.

A greater challenge came two years later when the Summer Games were in Rio, marking the IOC’s first foray in South America. Those Games were completed but “it was a miracle those Games took place because the organization behind the scenes was, to put it diplomatically, seriously dysfunctional,” once said Michael Payne, head of the marketing division of the IOC from 1989 through 2004. “The IOC leadership, they went to bed each night not knowing if the Games would take place the next day. It was that bad.”

And while the 2018 Winter Games at PyeongChang were organizationally smooth, it portended a dip in U.S. TV ratings that became a regular storyline as the next two editions of the Games, Summer and Winter, were held under COVID-related restrictions that Bach deserves credit for pushing through with force of will but did so at great cost financially.

The Olympic movement was revitalized last summer with what was universally regarded as a tremendous 2024 Games in Paris, which came close to perfection in executing Bach’s Olympic Legacy 2020 project in organizing a Games that did not result in massive budgetary venue overruns, instead brilliantly mixing the city’s historic locations and turning them into a series of temporary sports venues.

One of Bach’s final moves as president was a bookend to his reign. Last week, the IOC announced a four-year extension with NBC to broadcast the Olympics throughout the United States for $3 billion, giving NBC the rights to showcase the 2034 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. The U.S. television deal is one of the biggest sources of revenue for the IOC and continues a relationship with the network that has lasted for decades, including a then-surprising deal between the IOC and NBC that was for 12 years and made in 2014 at the start of Bach’s tenure.

Bach will retain the title of Honorary President for Life, which was given to him by acclaim before the presidential election.

Boxing’s return from near-expulsion out of the Olympic Summer Games is almost complete after the International Olympic Committee’s executive board recommended including the sport on the program for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles, ending a years-long dispute that nearly made the sport extinct on the Olympic scene.

IOC President Thomas Bach announced the recommendation on Monday ahead of this year’s annual Session meeting in Greece, which will be highlighted on Thursday by the election of his successor. The recommendation needs a full IOC Session of about 100 members to sign off on the decision, but that is usually a formality.

World Boxing was provisionally recognized by the IOC in February. For an international federation to be recognized by the IOC it must have at least 75 countries on four continents, which World Boxing achieved with its latest announcement of new members on February 18.

World Boxing was launched in April 2023 with six inaugural members including USA Boxing, which resigned its membership in the IBA. The organization now has 78 members around the world and will host its inaugural world championships later this year in Liverpool, England.

“I am very confident that the session will approve it so that all the boxers of the world then have certainty that they can participate in the Olympic Games L.A. 2028 if their national federation is recognized by World Boxing,” Bach said.

The recognition of World Boxing completes what has been a multi-year drama surrounding the sport’s future within the Olympic movement since the IBA was first suspended by the IOC in 2019 before withdrawing its recognition in 2023 following disputes over governance, its finances and the integrity of bouts and judging.

“This is a very significant and important decision for Olympic boxing,” said World Boxing President Boris van der Vorst. “World Boxing understands that being part of the Olympic Games is a privilege and not a right and I assure the IOC that if boxing is restored to the program for LA28, that World Boxing is completely committed to being a trustworthy and reliable partner that will adhere to and uphold the values of the Olympic Charter.”

The IOC organized the boxing tournaments at the Tokyo in 2021 and Paris in 2024 after relations with the Russian-led International Boxing Association broke down, but said it needed a new partner in time for 2028.

The IBA is run by Umar Kremlev, who has close ties to Russia President Vladimir Putin; since Kremlev’s reign began in 2017, the IBA has essentially been bankrolled by Russian interests. For last year’s Olympics, the IBA offered prize money to all medalists, including $100,000 for gold, even though they were not involved in Paris.

Since it was suspended, the IBA have continued to feud with the IOC, particularly over the rules on eligibility for women’s boxing at the Paris Games with a focus on gold medalists Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting. The IBA said this month it planned to file criminal complaints against the IOC in the United States, France and Switzerland.

Russia Still in Exile

The Russian Olympic Committee, which was suspended by the IOC in October 2023 as its invasion of Ukraine has raged for years, was cut off nearly 18 months ago from receiving a share of revenue from Olympic Games for acts that “violates the territorial integrity of the NOC of Ukraine.”

Asked Monday about the status of Russia within the Olympic movement, Bach said “the ball is in the court of the Russian Olympic Committee,” then added “on the working level the contacts have always been maintained.”

A limited amount of Russian athletes did compete Paris as vetted neutrals in individual sports and a similar system is currently likely to operate at the 2024 Olympic Winter Games in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.

“They have to follow the rules,” Bach said Monday. “Everybody in the Olympic Movement who is following the rules of the Olympic Charter is welcome, and everybody who is not following the Olympic Charter is not welcome.”

Brisbane 2032 Program to be Decided in 2025

The initial sports program for the 2032 Summer Games in Brisbane will be determined at next year’s IOC Session. The Olympic charter calls for a program to be determined seven years prior to the Games but the Brisbane organizing committee and IOC agreed to a six-year timeline instead.

The IOC said in a release waiting one more year gives Brisbane additional time to validate critical sporting infrastructure projects; a venue plan will be unveiled later this month, the local government said in February. Brisbane organizers also will have a future opportunity to propose to the IOC one or more additional events once the initial sports program is finalised.

World Boxing has been provisionally recognized by the International Olympic Committee as the international governing body for the sport, clearing a crucial obstacle for the sport to remain on the program ahead of the 2028 Olympic Summer Games in Los Angeles.

The IOC said that World Boxing showed that 62% of boxers from last year’s Paris Olympics were affiliated with its members. The IOC added that World Boxing “has demonstrated strong willingness and effort in enhancing good governance and implementation, to be compliant with the appropriate standards.”

The IOC had set a deadline of “early 2025” to work with a new governing body replacing the Russian-led International Boxing Association, which was banished from the Olympic movement last year.

World Boxing was launched in April 2023 with six inaugural members including USA Boxing, which resigned its membership in the IBA. The organization now has 78 members around the world and will host its inaugural world championships later this year in Liverpool, England.

For an international federation to be recognized by the IOC it must have at least 75 countries on four continents, which World Boxing achieved with its latest announcement of new members on February 18.

The recognition of World Boxing completes what has been a multi-year drama surrounding the sport’s future within the Olympic movement since the IBA was first suspended by the IOC in 2019 before withdrawing its recognition in 2023 following disputes over governance, its finances and the integrity of bouts and judging.

Boxing has been part of the Olympic program since 1094 and the U.S. has been the most successful program in Olympic history, but the sport’s place in LA28 remained in doubt as the IOC repeatedly said it would not organize any boxing competition in Los Angeles as it had in both Tokyo and Paris.

The IOC had previously told boxing federations that stay loyal to the IBA that it would be cut off from funding and liaison with their national Olympic committee. The IBA has been a persistent annoyance to the IOC and President Thomas Bach, with a number of missives back and forth between the organizations.

The IBA is run by Umar Kremlev, who has close ties to Russia President Vladimir Putin; since Kremlev’s reign began in 2017, the IBA has essentially been bankrolled by Russian interests. For last year’s Olympics, the IBA offered prize money to all medalists, including $100,000 for gold, even though they were not involved in Paris.

Since it was suspended, the IBA have continued to feud with the IOC, particularly over the rules on eligibility for women’s boxing at the Paris Games with a focus on gold medalists Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting. The IBA said this month it planned to file criminal complaints against the IOC in the United States, France and Switzerland.

One year from today, the international sports world will descend upon the San Siro in Milan for the Opening Ceremony of the 2026 Olympic Winter Games.

In the next 365 days, the International Olympic Committee will undergo a generational amount of movement with new leadership ahead of Italy and face a host of substantial issues surrounding future hosts and its own financial health. With an eye on the age of transformation ahead, here are some storylines that we’re watching.

The Countdown Continues to Milan-Cortina 2026

The biggest storyline about a Games organized in Italy at this point is that multiple events may be heading to the Adirondack region in New York State.

Lake Placid, New York, could be the host for bobsled, luge and skeleton at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games should the sliding venue in Cortina not be completed by March. The Cortina track is claimed to be nearly three-quarters complete ahead of a test event that is crucial to a final decision on where events will be organized.

Having Lake Placid as a backup instead of closer tracks in Austria or Switzerland was a local organizing committee decision and “we chose Lake Placid because it was the only place where they offered us the track without requiring us to make any investments,” Milan-Cortina Chief Executive Officer Andrea Varnier told The Associated Press. “But we’re counting on holding the sliding sports here in Cortina.”

Added organizing committee president Giovanni Malagò: “It’s just a formality. There’s no substance to it.”

Well, if there was no substance, then there wouldn’t be a backup plan, would there?

There’s also a joke to be made that given the distance between some of the venues for 2026, the mileage between Milan-Cortina and Lake Placid fits into the overall planning for the venues.

Milan (ice hockey, figure skating, speedskating and short-track speedskating) and Cortina d’Ampezzo (women’s alpine skiing, curling and potentially sliding) are separated by about 170 miles. Alpine skiing for the men in Bormio is more than 125 miles from Milan and nearly 200 miles from Cortina. Athletes will compete in three other mountain clusters, while the Closing Ceremony will be held in Verona, the largest city in the northeastern Veneto region.

And while so much attention has been paid to the sliding venue, a bit less publicized is that the main hockey venue in Milan is not set for completion until the fall and construction on a temporary athletes village outside Cortina is also incomplete.

Keep in mind, however, that a rush to finish Games preparations is nothing new — shower water ran yellow for some early arrivals to Sochi in 2014 and preparations for Rio 2016 were labeled the “worst” ever by an IOC vice president.

The Presidential Race

When Milano-Cortina gets underway in a year, it will be the biggest moment for the then-new tenure of whoever will become IOC President with Thomas Bach standing down in late June. The election will be March 20 after each of the seven candidates had about a quick Zoom’s call worth of time to present their case to IOC membership in a process that many find underwhelming.

There’s a clear split for three candidates that are considered potential winners: Sebastian Coe, Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. and Kirsty Coventry. Coe and Coventry are Olympic gold medalists; Samaranch Jr.’s father was the longtime IOC leader during its transformative era into becoming a marketing juggernaut.

Olympic observers regard Coe has the most qualified, although the IOC (despite its insistence of neutrality) has made enough comments critical of Coe’s move at World Athletics to pay Olympic medalists that many believe Bach would prefer Coe not succeed him. The conventional wisdom is that Bach prefers Coventry, who would be the first female IOC president. But Samaranch Jr. is seen by insiders as the slight favorite at this point.

Whoever succeeds Bach will have the Milan-Cortina issues first, plus sponsorship deals winding down and broadcast deals that are up after 2032 (the NBC deal single-handedly propels a lot of IOC business). They will also have a membership that ever so slightly has shown indications of chafing under Bach’s style of business and would like to have a broader say in the future of the Olympic movement, particularly in regard to future Games host sites.

The State of LA 2028 Preparations

The 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games in Los Angeles have long been billed as a turnkey operation with venues in place and plans for a “no-car Games”  as the local organizing committee switched into operational mode post-Paris.

The Games are more than three years away but given the massive rebuilding of housing and infrastructure to come throughout the Los Angeles region after the devastation wrought by a series of wildfires, there has been concern as to whether rebuilding would affect future Games plans that depend on state and local governments for police, fire, first responders and traffic control.

Another question is the remaining venue announcements for sports that have not been given sites; industry sources tell SportsTravel an announcement is scheduled for early April. Fencing, judo, table tennis, taekwondo and wrestling are scheduled to be at the Los Angeles Convention Center with an expansion and modernization project scheduled to be finished before 2028; those plans are in deep doubt because of the wildfires, the Los Angeles Times reported this week.

Then there are the venue changes that have been announced, including plans to have softball and canoe slalom in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. That, plus the move of basketball from downtown Los Angeles to Inglewood’s Intuit Arena and other sports moving both out of and into Los Angeles require written consent from the city council, which was reviewing the proposal in the fall. Given circumstances, a delay in that review and consent would certainly be understandable.

Then there was Wednesday’s news that President Donald Trump signed an executive order intended to ban transgender athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports, then said he had empowered Secretary of State Marco Rubio to make it clear to the IOC that “we want them to change everything having to do with the Olympics and having to do with this absolutely ridiculous subject.”

The IOC has deferred to international federations for each sport on transgender participation. Of the candidates to replace Bach as president, Coe has been a strong proponent of limiting participation in female sports to cisgender women. The IOC as a international sporting body, however, does not like government interference.

The Games Beyond 2028

But wait — there’s more!

The 2030 Winter Games in France was rushed through approval during last summer’s IOC Session in Paris and government guarantees, normally a deal-breaker for the IOC, were forgiven to a later date. In the wake of a great Games in Paris, the Olympic glow in the country has worn off as much as some of the Olympic medals.

The 2030 Games is on the tightest timeline of any future Games from approval to organization and organizers’ plans were thrown this week when biathlon star Martin Fourcade withdrew his candidacy to be president of the organizing committee, due to be announced later this month.

“There are still too many differences of opinion to be able to contemplate this mission calmly,” Fourcade wrote in an email to the members of the future executive committee of the 2030 Games seen by The Associated Press.

Then there’s the 2032 Summer Games in Brisbane. Former Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, who played a pivotal role in securing the Games, said in January that plans had become a “hot mess.” Concerns at various points over venue redevelopment had in part led to Palaszczuk’s resignation as premier in December. The new leadership in Queensland says claims it uncovered a “massive budget black hole” to build the athlete villages.

“If I were at the IOC right now, I’d be saying: ‘What is going on Brisbane?’” Palaszczuk said last month.

Construction progress of a sliding track that will host events at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games, a venue the International Olympic Committee wished organizers did not pursue, was still praised during this week’s IOC Executive Board meetings.

The Cortina track needs to be certified by March to be approved for use in the February 6–22, 2026 Games. Local organizers are sceduled in March to hold a pre-homologation event that will allow them to get athlete feedback.

The IOC previously made clear its preference to have sliding events elsewhere and the New York State Olympic Regional Developmental Authority in 2023 proposed the sliding events be held in Lake Placid, New York, as a solution to the drama in Italy. Along with Lake Placid, proposals were submitted from Austria, Germany and Switzerland. But the Milan-Cortina organizers instead are rebuilding the Cortina track for $86.4 million.

Organizers are also building an ice hockey arena in Milan and the Olympic Village in Cortina; IOC Executive Director Christophe Dubi said those are the projects being watched the closest and there is “good news on these fronts.”

“On one hand, the pressure is mounting as you get pretty close,” Dubi said Tuesday. “It’s also the time where the excitement is rising.”

Milan-Cortina recently announced the route for the torch relay, as the Olympic flame will pass through all 110 provinces in Italy on a 63-day journey. It also has revealed the brand identity as well as the pictograms that will be used.

FIFA/Olympics Twinbill a Potential ‘Feast’

The imminent decision by FIFA to have Saudi Arabia host the 2034 World Cup — potentially putting it in a scheduling conflict with the 2034 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City — was downplayed by Dubi, who instead put it in surprisingly positive terms.

“I think the risk of having those two in parallel is immensely limited,” said Dubi, calling it “a real feast” for sports fans.

Playing a World Cup in January 2022 was not an option when Qatar needed to find cooler months and the IOC made it clear that January was too close to the 2022 Games in Beijing. The 2022 World Cup was instead played in November and December that year.

The 48-team, 104-game World Cup format takes 38 days to play. The IOC and Salt Lake aim to have the 2034 Games Opening Ceremony on February 10.

“From all standpoints, including a commercial one, we have actually virtually no risk,” Dubi said. “… On the contrary, it’s a lot of sport in the time frame.”

News And Notes

• IOC leadership may say it is impartial in the race to succeed IOC President Thomas Bach but it again criticized World Athletics and by extension Sebastian Coe, the organization’s president, for its decision to award $50,000 for every track-and-field winner at the Games in Paris. Coe is one of seven candidates in the presidential race and regarded as one of (if not the) most qualified successors to Bach. Spokesman Mark Adams said Tuesday the IOC’s executive board discussed the topic and “it was felt by the executive board that this goes against the mission of the International Olympic Committee, and it could very easily downgrade the Olympic Games to an elitist event.”
• IOC Sport Director Kit McConnell reaffirmed the IOC has to recognize a new international federation for boxing to be on the program for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. Such recognition needs to be made at the 2025 IOC Session; World Boxing has been lobbying for recognition after the IBA’s expulsion from the Olympic movement. Bach said Thursday “in this moment, it looks like the only probability is World Boxing” to be a recognized international federation and added “it cannot be the IBA. That story is over.”
• A review of which sports will be featured at the 2030 Winter Games in France will be decided by the end of 2025. Seven sports are on the initial program — biathlon, bobsled, curling, ice hockey, luge, skating and skiing — and the host organizing committee has the opportunity to propose additional sports.
• The IOC this year sealed a 12-year deal for Saudi Arabia to host the new Esports Olympics. The organizational model will be different than what the IOC does for the Olympic Games, Bach said, with a joint organizing committee between the IOC and Saudi Olympic Committee with three representatives from each governing body.
• Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic is the presumptive host of the 2027 IOC Session with an official vote scheduled in March.

There was no need to talk about a potential host or a candidate city. IOC President Thomas Bach made the proclamation in Paris: Salt Lake City will host the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

City and state leaders, plus those who had shepherded the winning bid, spilled out into a mixed zone on July 24 for interviews in a daze of happiness, relief and realization that after years of speaking in abstract terms, they could talk about the Games as theirs.

“It feels like a burden has been lifted because we have the Games,” said Fraser Bullock, president and chief executive officer of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games. “Now, a new burden comes. But this is fun, because we get to host the world and now we know it’s a real thing and we can start working toward that.”

Forward to a few months later and the third annual Sports Salt Lake Summit was held with a record number of attendees on hand, including nine national governing bodies. This winter alone, the region will host national championships in luge and speedskating plus a women’s hockey rivalry series game between the United States and Canada in addition to the multiple NGBs that already call the region home.

“The phone has been ringing,” said Clay Partain, executive director of Sports Salt Lake. “We’ve got a 10-year runway. We’ll have conversations with the national governing bodies to figure out what are the events we need, but also what are the events that we think make sense and that we both want.”

July’s awarding of the 2034 Games was a watershed moment for the region that hosted a hugely successful Games in 2002. It is in many ways the poster child for what the IOC wants from a host: venues that are maintained and used for community and high-level events for decades, boosted by a multi-million dollar surplus that has lasted nearly a generation.

The announcement came after years of negotiations, meetings and more, including atypical (some would call it manufactured) drama before the final vote of approval. SportsTravel covered the race to host the Games for years, culminating with its moment in Paris, interviews before and after the IOC Session and first-person observations from throughout the process.

This is how the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games came to Salt Lake.

The Road to Approval Begins

Returning the Games to Salt Lake has been a long-held desire. What made Bullock feel that way was his own role at the 2002 Games as chief operating officer, working with Mitt Romney in organizing an event that was once shrouded in disgrace but ended with success.

“Whether it’s within a country or between countries, there’s so much division,” Bullock said. “What’s the one thing that brings the world together in a big way? It’s the Games. The Olympics and Paralympics are unique in the world.

“I had no plans to be part of the Olympics, but Mitt pulled me in and I got a taste of it,” Bullock added. “Particularly post-9/11 where I could see a world unified, I said, OK, this is important. We all want to contribute in some way to society and this was my little niche to help.”

In Bullock, the bid also had someone who for years had built relationships with the IOC that led him to be one of Lausanne’s most trusted people within the U.S. Olympic movement.

When New York (2012) and Chicago (2016) lost in humiliating fashion in their bids to host the Summer Games, relations between the IOC and the U.S. movement were at their lowest point with acrimony over the U.S. share of Olympic television and sponsorship revenues. When the two sides in 2012 signed an agreement through 2040 after years of negotiations, Bullock was part of a three-person committee representing the USOC. And when the IOC wanted to bring in advisors to serve on committees and help organizers in Turin in 2006 … and Vancouver in 2010 … and Rio in 2016 … Bullock answered the call.

“I just wanted to just be of service to a great movement,” Bullock said. “But always in the back of my mind, I said, this is important because relationships matter. And this will be helpful in securing one element — not the element — but one of many elements to secure a future Games.”

Slowly but surely, plans became reality. The SLC-Utah Committee for the Games was formed in February 2020 with Bullock heading the group. It named Catherine Raney-Norman, a speedskater who competed in four Winter Games including 2002, as board chair in June 2021 after a meeting with the governor of Utah and mayor of Salt Lake City.

“They wanted to do a Zoom with me and I said, just so you know, I’m dressed for day care today as a mom also picking up her car at the mechanic,” Raney-Norman said with a laugh. “When they called and asked me to do this, it was an absolute yes. A moment of fear a little bit as well, knowing how important it is and the responsibility that it is, but so incredibly grateful.”

The bid group itself was fairly small, therefore taking on multiple roles depending on the duties needed.

“(Bid lead) Darren Hughes’ capabilities are 10 times greater than I even thought they were,” Bullock said. “He can do the work of 10 people. I thought I was productive, but I don’t hold a candle to Darren. Cat, I knew she was connected to the movement, but I didn’t realize how deeply connected she is with everybody at the NGBs. She knows all these athletes. She knows all these kids. She’s just a wonderful person and great to work with. And team chemistry is so important. It’s got to be the right people.”

The right people also meant knowing an Olympic bid included outreach not only to the international sports community but the local community. Local support for the bid has been remarkably strong and sustainable throughout what ended up being a years-long process.

“You have to be patient throughout the process, even though we want to go really quickly,” Raney-Norman said. “What’s really important, and I’ve so enjoyed this the last several years, is engaging with our communities and sitting down and listening to them. I can’t tell you the number of times where I would set up a meeting to go have coffee and talk about the Games in our communities and their first response was, I can’t believe the Olympic bid committee wants to talk to me. And I was like, well, why wouldn’t we?”

Debating Which Edition

As the bid gained momentum, one question kept rising — which Games would the region go for?

“I always believed the Games would come back to Utah,” Bullock said. “I just didn’t know when.”

For a long time, the bid took a neutral position, saying it would want any Games, whether it would be 2030 or 2034. Salt Lake City for a period of time was one of multiple bidders but as the process continued, others fell by the wayside.

First, there was Sapporo’s bid, which had been seen as the favorite for 2030 as an unspoken “make-good” by the IOC to Japan after the delayed 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo resulted in massive budgetary losses for the organizers. But as the Tokyo Games fallout included allegations of bribery against members of the organizing committee, Sapporo’s bid was paused and never fully revitalized.

Vancouver’s 2030 bid, the first led by the Indigenous community, was essentially ended once government funding was not secured. While Sweden weighed entering the 2030 bid process, there was a period of time in which Salt Lake seemed the only choice for the IOC.

That, however, raised complications for the IOC and USOPC because of the quick turnaround from the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles. There have not been consecutive Games in the same country since the 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid followed by the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles, in part because of sponsorship and budgetary aspects given the traditional leadup a sponsor gets ahead of a Games.

Bullock’s financial budget for a 2030 Games “would be very tight,” he said, “because we would have less revenue.” So, the SLC-Utah group listened and when the USOPC publicly professed a preference for 2034, the bid was adjusted. After counsel from USOPC Chief Executive Officer Sarah Hirshland, Bullock adapted.

“I went from being a strong advocate for 2030 to be coming completely converted to 2034,” he admitted. “I looked at all the dynamics associated with a better revenue model. And the one thing that was new to me — I said, man, 10 years, that’s a long time. But if we utilize the Games as a catalyst to do good during those 10 years, having 10 years is actually better because we can get a lot more done.

“One of the things I try to do is listen to people and be careful in taking in their input. Which I did, and here we are. We ended up with the right slot, with the right team, with the right time and it feels perfect.”

Bringing Preparation and Certainty

While it felt perfect, it also had to be confirmed by the IOC. For that to be the case, the SLC-Utah bid group focused on certainty — securing government guarantees with the official bid even as the group plans to have the Games be privately funded. Years ahead of the deadline, the bid group secured 21,000 hotel rooms for the 2034 Games and got agreements with all proposed venues for 2034.

The planned $2.83 billion Games operating budget is almost identical to that of 2002, measured in 2034 dollars. A planned $260 million legacy budget will support long-term community sport programs, including the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation.

And in coming up with the type of proposal that would appeal to the IOC’s desire for each Games to have its legacy, SLC-Utah came up with the Athletes Family Village, which will support athletes’ families near the Athlete Village at the University of Utah, an idea first raised during a meeting between Bullock, Raney-Norman and bid committee member Lindsey Vonn, the four-time Olympian and three-time medalist.

“No one had thought of it,” Vonn said. “That blew my mind and it blew Fraser’s mind. He looked at me and he said, well, we have to do that. And it was instantaneous that everyone said this is an amazing idea. We have to figure out a way to get this done.”

For Vonn, the idea is a personal one: “I love the Olympics,” she said. “My family loves the Olympics. Had my family been able to be in a family village, that would have changed everything. Everything. Most of my family weren’t able to come to most of my Olympics because it was just too challenging. So we are going to change that and we are going to include the families. That for me is a very emotional topic and something that I’m very proud of.”

As the planning and budgeting went on, there was a bit of role reversal that showcased the depth of the relationship between the bid group and IOC. At one point, Bach downplayed the idea of having a dual award for 2030 and 2034. When Bullock emphasized the importance of such a move to the IOC, the committee changed course and approved a dual award for the summer of 2024, formally inviting Salt Lake to targeted dialogue in fall 2023 that all but secured the bid after a formal visit by the Future Host Commission in April.

“It’s so hard to align everything where you’ve got political leadership, public support, everything else,” he said. “Because when you look at Sapporo, you look at Vancouver, you look at Stockholm, they all have wonderful people. But it’s hard to get alignment. And when you’ve got that alignment, you’ve got to make it happen.

“If we had to wait another three years, I don’t know if I could hold it together. We very strongly impressed that upon them. And the good thing is they listened. So we listened to them. They listened to us and we came up with the best answers together.”

A Slight Delay in Approval

So it was onto the IOC Session in Paris and official confirmation for 2034, intentionally scheduled for the morning of Pioneer Day in Utah, the state’s official holiday. The presentations were smooth. The emotions were evident.

“It was very intimidating,” said Vonn — quite a statement given the stakes she competed under as an athlete. “This is probably the biggest speech I’ve ever given in my life and probably one of the most important, if not the most important.”

There was one hitch before the bid’s affirmation, though, as multiple IOC members used the opportunity to lambast the United States Anti-Doping Agency in a show of support for the World Anti-Doping Agency, which came under heavy criticism from U.S. lawmakers in the wake of reports of Chinese swimmers competing at the Tokyo Games in 2021 even after testing positive for doping.

The IOC even put in the host city contract that it can terminate the agreement “in cases where the supreme authority of the World Anti-Doping Agency … is not fully respected or if the application of the world anti-doping code is hindered or undermined.” While a surprise for some, the contract modification and planned show of support for WADA was known by the SLC-Utah bid leaders nearly two weeks prior.

“We understood the concern and provided assurances by letters,” Bullock said. “The entire amendment was just an added clause that we’re very comfortable with.”

After the delay, the actual vote took little time before Bach made Salt Lake’s approval official. The entire mini-drama ended up meaningless because one thing was clear — the IOC wanted (and needed) the Games in Utah. The yes votes for Salt Lake 2034, in fact, were more than the yes votes for the 2030 French bid.

As members from the region, bid leaders, the USOPC and more celebrated in a restaurant in the Palais des Congrès de Paris where the session was held, those who spoke to the gathering including Utah’s governor and Salt Lake City’s mayor needed moments to catch their breath, the enormity of the moment hitting all in attendance.

“There was emotion for all of us,” said Raney-Norman. “We have put our hearts into this. And so, absolutely there were tears.”

Going Forward

The return of the Games to Salt Lake City is not only notable for the Olympics — it was in 2002 that the local organizing committee also organized the Paralympic Winter Games, the first LOC to have done so.

“In Utah, there are opportunities for Paralympic athletes like I haven’t seen anywhere else in the United States,” said Dani Aravich, a two-time Paralympian. “We have some incredible organizations throughout Utah that focus on getting people with disabilities into sports. I know those will just continue to grow as we look towards 2034 and I think Salt Lake will become a place that changes the way we view the Paralympics.”

Partain of Sports Salt Lake also pointed to a decade of future events that will want to be organized in the region. Take, for example, curling, which is scheduled in 2032 to be at the Salt Palace Convention Center, a different venue compared to 2002. That would lend itself to at least one or more events in the next decade to test venue management and logistics.

“There’s events like that, that we know we’re going to have to do things for,” he said. “Then you’ve got USA Hockey, what can we do with them 10 years? U.S. Figure Skating, what can we do with them in the next 10 years? Speed skating is in our backyard, what do we have lined up in the next 10 years? So those are really exciting conversations. And they all want to be here.”

Will things change between now and 2034? Certainly. There is already one venue change from the Paris proposal; Utah Hockey Club owner Ryan Smith says a renovated Delta Center will host ice hockey, moving short track speedskating and figure skating to the Maverik Center in West Valley City.

The composition of a local organizing committee is not fully known, mostly because it will take some time before one is needed. The certainty of having the Games in a decade’s time is countered by the need to maintain local enthusiasm, which has been problematic for other Games hosts.

Those are things that will happen in due course. In the region, the glow of having been awarded the Games still resonates. Bringing the Games back was an Olympic event in and of itself, even for a four-time Olympian such as Raney-Norman.

“One hundred percent it has felt like the journey that you go through as an athlete,” she said that day in Paris, outside of the main session hall. “The work that you put in, the milestones that you hit and all the different markers that you have to continue to hit. To have this moment, it is amazing. It is absolutely the highlight of my Olympic career.”