2034 Winter Olympics will be hosted by Salt Lake City
Jul 24, 2024, 7:28 AM | Updated: 7:32 am
A general view of downtown Salt Lake City at night during the Salt Lake Winter Olympics on February 23, 2002 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Brian Bahr)
(Photo by Brian Bahr)
SALT LAKE CITY – The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that Salt Lake City will host the 2034 Winter Games. The announcement came from Paris early Wednesday morning after an official vote.
After receiving the “preferred host” designation late last year, Utah can now look forward to hosting its second Olympics over 30 years after the 2002 Winter Olympics.
With the Winter Olympics officially coming back to Utah in 12 years, Salt Lake City will join a prestigious group of cities.
Only 10 cities have ever hosted more than one Olympics. Salt Lake City will become the third U.S. city to do so, joining Los Angeles, California, and Lake Placid, New York.
How did Salt Lake City land the 2034 Winter Olympics?
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Over the last few years, there were signs that the Olympics could be coming back to Utah.
It started in 2019 when the U.S. Olympic Committee announced Salt Lake would be its selection for a future Winter Olympics bid.
In June 2022, reports came out from IOC meetings that Salt Lake was most likely getting the nod. It just was about picking between 2030 and 2034.
As the 2024 Paris Olympics crept closer and no other city had a comparable bid, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox caused a stir with his confidence on the topic.
Finally, in November 2023, Salt Lake City was announced as the ‘preferred host city’ for the 2034 Olympic Games.
Salt Lake City’s 2002 Olympic history
The 2002 Winter Games were held in Salt Lake City and the surrounding areas from February 8-24 of 2002. Those Games hold memories dear to many Utahns’ hearts, like the Miracle on Ice team lighting the torch and the incredible display of patriotism the Games produced following the events of 9/11.
Events for the Games were held across 10 competitive venues in downtown Salt Lake City, Park City, Provo and in the mountains near Salt Lake City.
Many venues of past Olympics were torn down, not cared for or left abandoned after the Games were over, but that is not the case here in Utah.
All 10 venues used for competition during the 2002 Olympics are still in use, which made Salt Lake an ideal candidate for future Games.
This story was originally published by KSLSports.com.
