Olympic Winter Games French Alps 2030: Top facts you need to know about the host
Discover what you need to know about the newly elected host of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games French Alps 2030.
It's official: the 142nd IOC Session has elected French Alps 2030 as the host of the XXVI Olympic Winter Games!
The Olympic Winter Games are returning to France for the fourth time, and the first time in 38 years, since Albertville 1992.
Sports will be organised in four clusters, from Lake Geneva and the northern Alps to the Mediterranean Sea in the south, in order to make use of as many existing venues as possible.
Here are some key facts you need to know about the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games French Alps 2030.
French Alps 2030: When will the 2030 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games take place?
The Olympic Winter Games 2030 are proposed to be held from 1–17 February 2030. The Paralympic Winter Games would follow from 1–10 March 2030.
What are the proposed venues for the Olympic Winter Games French Alps 2030?
French Alps 2030's venue master plan focuses on four zones: in Haute Savoie, Savoie, Briançon, and Nice.
There are five Olympic Villages proposed so that all athletes can stay in accommodation that is no more than 30 minutes away from their competition venue.
Three venues used for Albertville 1992 form part of the French Alps 2030 master plan: La Plagne's sliding track, the Courchevel ski jump, and Méribel's Roc de Fer downhill Alpine skiing course. The other proposed snow venues are located in La Clusaz, Le Grand Bornand, Serre Chevalier and Montgenèvre.
Nice, on the Mediterranean coast, is proposed to hold the ice sports, with the exception of speed skating, which would be hosted outside of France to avoid building a new venue without a strong plan for a post-Games legacy.
The Closing Ceremony could be held along Nice's famous Promenade des Anglais, a 7km stretch along the Mediterranean coast. It would be the first ceremony held outside a stadium at an edition of the Olympic Winter Games. No venue has yet been identified for the Opening Ceremony.
Of the proposed venues, 93 per cent are existing or will be temporary.
- Haute Savoie Zone: Cross-country skiing (La Clusaz), Biathlon (Le Grand Bornand), Olympic Village
- Savoie Zone: Alpine skiing (Courchevel, Méribel), Ski jumping (Courchevel), Nordic combined (Courchevel, Méribel), sliding sports (La Plagne), Olympic Villages (Bozel, La Plagne)
- Briançon Zone: Freestyle skiing and snowboarding (Serre Chevalier, Montgenèvre), Olympic Village (Briançon)
- Nice Zone: Ice hockey (two arenas), Figure skating and Short track speed skating, Curling, International Broadcast Centre and Main Press Centre, and Closing Ceremony
- Speed skating to be held outside of France (to be confirmed)
- Opening Ceremony venue(s) to be confirmed
Briançon, the highest city in France and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, will host an Olympic Village.
French Alps 2030: Taking inspiration from Paris 2024
The Games aim to unite the north and south French Alps, bringing benefits, both social and economic, to a wide range of communities and age groups.
They also have a vision of promoting a year-round, more sustainable forms of tourism, addressing challenges faced by mountain regions such as the effects of climate change on winter sport.
Notably, the proposal to hold the Closing Ceremony on the Promenade des Anglais was inspired by the Olympic Games Paris 2024, one of a number of areas in which this year's Olympic Games have influenced the plans for 2030.
The Promenade hosted a free festival for the Paris 2024 Olympic Torch Relay, and for the Winter Games would be taking a leaf out of the books of Paris, which is holding its Opening Ceremony outside of a stadium too.
Additionally, similar to Paris 2024's Marathon Pour Tous, French Alps 2030 has ambitions to stage a mass participation event, part of efforts to extend programmes promoting the health benefits of sport to a winter context.
French Alps 2030 will be the first Olympic Games with new requirements on sustainability in force, added to the Olympic Host Contract.
These requirements include obliging the organisers to minimise both direct and indirect Games-related carbon emissions; strive to remove more carbon from the atmosphere than the Games project emits; and use their influence to encourage stakeholders to take climate action.
Specifically, French Alps 2030 aims to follow Paris 2024's example in terms of sustainability. It will focus on concrete ambitions to create more sustainable Olympic Winter Games by developing a sustainability strategy that reduces carbon emissions and covers every aspect of Games planning and delivery, including transport, education, and procurement.
Nice's Promenade des Anglais, which hosted part of the Paris 2024 Olympic Torch Relay route, could host the Closing Ceremony of the Olympic Winter Games French Alps 2030.
Which athletes are supporting the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games French Alps 2030?
Top athletes who have thrown their voices behind French Alps 2030 include Olympic medallists Martin Fourcade, Anaïs Bescond, Vincent Jay, Hugo Lapalus, Carole Montillet and Alexis Pinturault, and Paralympic medallists Marie Bochet and Arthur Bauchet.
Other Olympians who have given their backing include bobsleigh athlete Margot Boch and Alpine skier Cyprien Sarrazin, while Paralympic champion snowboarder Maxime Montaggioni is also a supporter.