Salt Lake City Ready For Olympics Return As Soon As 2030

The location for the 2030 Olympics hasn’t yet been decided, but it looks like Salt Lake City is ready to host the Winter Games once again.

Salt Lake City could be ready to host the Olympics as soon as 2030, USOPC chair Susanne Lyons said on Friday ahead of the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics, via Reuters.

"We are already in dialogue with the [International Olympic Committee], not yet for a specific year," she said, via Reuters. "Depending on what the needs of the overall Olympic movement are, that could happen as early as 2030 or it could happen after that."

Of any American city capable of holding a winter Olympics, Salt Lake City makes a lot of sense — especially since it was the last city in the United States to host the Games back in 2002. The region has long been tabbed by the USOPC as the next in line to host in the United States, though they haven’t pushed for a specific year under the IOC’s new system for bids.

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Vancouver, which held the Games in 2010, is among cities connected to the 2030 Olympics. Barcelona and the surrounding region and Sapporo, Japan, are also under consideration.

Though nothing has been decided, Lyons said she’s confident that Salt Lake City can host whenever it is awarded a future Olympics — whether that’s in 2030, 2034 or beyond.

"Salt Lake City has all of the venues already in place, they hosted a Winter Games before, they have very, very high excitement and support from their local population," Lyons said, via Reuters. "Salt Lake City has made it very clear to our partners at the IOC that they are ready and able to go as soon as we are needed."

Where are the next Olympics?

Four of the next five Games after the Beijing Olympics have already been announced.

The 2024 Summer Olympics will be held in Paris — which marks the city’s third ever Summer Games and comes exactly 100 years after it first hosted in 1924. The next Winter Games will take place in northern Italy, and will be split between Milan and Cortina.

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Then in 2028, the Olympics will be held in Los Angeles. The city has held the Games twice before, most recently in 1984. It will mark the first Summer Games held in the United States since the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

Brisbane, Australia, will then host the Summer Olympics in 2032. That is the latest Olympics that the IOC has announced. A Winter Olympics is scheduled to take place between the Los Angeles and Brisbane Games.