Vincent Frank
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced on Wednesday that Salt Lake City, Utah, will be the host of the 2034 Winter Olympics.
This announcement wasn’t too much of a surprise in that the city was pretty much the only one in contention to land the event.
As CNN reported, climate change and operational costs limited the number of cities that were viable options to host the 2034 Winter Olympics.
“Utah capitalized on low interest elsewhere, pitching itself to Olympic officials as an enthusiastic repeat host if the committee goes forward with a proposed permanent rotation of Winter Olympic cities,” CNN reported. “Olympic Games Executive Director Christophe Dubi has said Salt Lake City would be a prime candidate for such a plan.”
Just one day later, and Salt Lake City hosting the games could be off.
Let us explain.
The IOC included this in their press release on Wednesday.
‘IOC Member John Coates, Chair of the IOC’s Legal Affairs Commission, confirmed that the Olympic Host Contract will be strengthened in relation to WADA and the World Anti-Doping Code,” statement from the IOC.
“The IOC has reinforced the current language in order to protect the integrity of the international anti-doping system and to allow the IOC to terminate the Olympic Host Contract in cases where ‘the supreme authority of the World Anti-Doping Agency in the fight against doping is not fully respected or if the application of the World Anti-Doping Code is hindered or undermined.’”
What does this mean? We’ll explain below.
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IOC Threatens To Pull 2034 Winter Olympics From Salt Lake City Due To Feud With China
That’s a long-form way of explaining that the IOC is attempting to crush United States probes into China’s alleged doping.
IOC committee member Ingmar De Vos indicated on Wednesday that a probe by the U.S. Congress and a criminal investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice into doping by China “are extremely worrying and basically, for us, unacceptable,” per NPR.
In addition to this, the IOC demanded that the United States signs a contract respecting the authority of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
It’s not yet known how U.S. officials are going to respond. But this is an unprecedented move by the Olympic governing body.