MUMBAI (Reuters) – The International Olympic Committee announced on Thursday that Japan’s Sapporo has withdrawn its bid to host the 2030 Winter Olympics, citing the Games being “too soon” for the city.
On Wednesday, the mayor of Sapporo stated that the city would consider hosting the Winter Olympics in 2034 or later, following the aftermath of bribery and bid-rigging scandals related to the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo.
“They are going to remain in continuous dialogue phase which is designed to be flexible. It’s non-committal on both sides,” said IOC spokesman Mark Adams during a press conference after the opening day of its executive board meeting in Mumbai.
“There will continue to be some dialogue over the coming years. But they have obviously made it clear that 2030 is too soon for them.”
Possible locations competing to host the 2030 Games include Salt Lake City in the United States, Sweden, Switzerland, and France.
Sapporo and the Japanese Olympic Committee had halted active promotion of the city’s bid in light of the ongoing corruption scandal surrounding the Tokyo Games. The Tokyo Games were postponed by a year and eventually held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly; editing by Ken Ferris)
Credit: The Star : Sport Feed
