Winter Olympics 2030 in Nice? “The IOC members were won”

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) began its visits to the PACA and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions to determine which sites could host the 2030 Winter Olympics. A delegation was in Nice on Thursday 25 April to see the different places expected to find ice sports.

The French candidacy for the 2030 Winter Olympics becomes clearer… Members of the IOC and the International Olympic Committee visited the PACA and Rhône-Alpes regions this Thursday to decide, as part of a “targeted dialogue“, the locations that could receive these games.

They made a stopover in the Riviera capital, where several rinks could conceivably host ice sports competitions, that is, four disciplines.

“The members of the commission were won over“

In Nice, five locations are planned to host these events: Allianz Riviera, Palais Nikaïa, MIN, Palais des Expositions and the Port of Nice. The football stadium for hockey, the exhibition center for figure skating and short-track, Nikaïa for curling and finally MIN for the Olympic village. At the harbor there was to be the media centre. It will therefore involve installing two temporary ice rinks and one, planned to last in front of the stadium rink.

During this official visit, Nice’s assets seem to have won over the IOC. The president of the French National Olympic and Sports Committee, David Lappartient, explains: “somewhere we have the most extreme culmination of the IOC’s vision since here everything is so compact: either you get there on foot, or you use public transport and the tram. The members of the commission were seduced by this vision we proposed“.

Contacted by France 3 Côte-d’Azur regarding the possible holding of tests at the Allianz Riviera stadium in Nice, the OGC confirms that it has not been made aware of this situation and does not wish to comment further on the matter.

Asked by our colleagues from Nice morningclub president Jean-Pierre Rivère, declared: “With so little information it is difficult for me to react. However, one thing is certain: we cannot be deprived of a stadium. The Winter Olympics is a big event. I understand the importance of the Games for the region and the country. But OGC Nice has an activity that cannot be stopped.”

The excitement is rather limited regarding the selection of the places and the country that will host these Winter Games in 2030, since only one candidate has proposed: France, with a candidacy supported by the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes d’Azur regions.

For his part, Christophe Dubi, Executive Director of the Olympic Games of the International Olympic Committee adds that the idea: “is that games adapt to a territory and, above all, that they contribute to its long-term development“. And to confirm: “finding a relevant project is always positive, finding an intelligent project is even better. This project, from north to south, is intelligent!“The official awarding of these 2030 Winter Olympics must take place on July 23 and 24.

(With Daniel Gerner, in Nice)