Salt Lake City, Utah, will host the Winter Olympics in 2034. The International Olympic Committee announced the news on Wednesday morning after a vote in Paris, where the Summer Olympics are taking place, according to The Associated Press. The upcoming event will mark the second time the city has hosted the Winter Olympics since it previously hosted the world in 2002.
Although The AP reports that expectations were high — with Salt Lake Citizens dressed in ski gear (in July) waiting for the announcement at 3 a.m. local time — the City had exclusive negotiating rights for the honor, making it the only capital under consideration for that year. Salt Lake, eager to host again, has preserved the venues and other structures from the 2002 Games.
“Enthusiasm for the Games was always our feeling, on the first minute to the last minute, in every interaction we had, both at the venues and in our meetings with athletes, sports leaders, politicians and the private sector,” Karl Stoss, the International Olympic Committee’s Future Host Commission’s chairperson, said in the announcement.
According to AP, other cities have declined to host the Winter Olympics over climate change and budgetary concerns. Salt Lake City, however, gave the Committee much it could work with, including a plan to keep all of the venues within an hour’s drive of the University of Utah campus, where the athletes would reside. It has all 13 of its necessary venues in place.
One condition the Olympic Committee gave the city was to ask local authorities to reduce worries over federal investigations into Chinese swimmers accused of taking performance-enhancing drugs. The request mentioned U.S. presidents and Congress, AP said, to send a message to the FBI to end an investigation. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox agreed to the stipulation.
The announcement coincided with the state’s celebrations commemorating when Mormon explorers discovered the Salt Lake Valley. They included a drone show.
In other Olympics news, rapper Snoop Dogg was given the rare honor of carrying the Olympic torch in Paris on Wednesday, bringing it through Saint-Denis.
