Swiss government backs efforts towards 2038 Winter Olympics bid

Switzerland’s government on Friday threw its weight behind efforts to prepare a bid to host the Winter Olympics and Paralympics in 2038.

Last year, Switzerland was turned down as an option for the 2030 and 2034 Winter Games, with the International Olympic Committee favouring France and the United States to host those events.

But the IOC offered an olive branch to Switzerland, granting the wealthy Alpine country the right to enter “privileged dialogue” for a bid for the 2038 Games.

The committee thereby gave Switzerland’s national Olympic committee until 2027 to refine its bid, before it engages in discussions with other potential hosts for the 2038 Winter Games.

“The Federal Council (government) is favourable to the project,” the government ministry in charge of sports, DDPS, said in a statement, stressing that the organisation of such an event would be “positive for the society and the economy”.

“The Federal Council considers thereby that the organisation of the Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Switzerland constitutes an important chance for the country to develop sport, technical innovation, social cohesion and … Switzerland’s image,” it said.

The Swiss Olympic committee would take the lead on the project, and would among other things help determine the best sites and evaluate the long-term impact of the Games on Switzerland, the statement said.

The Federal Office of Sport would meanwhile head an interdepartmental working group tasked with overseeing the preparations, it said.

Switzerland has repeatedly failed in efforts to secure bids to host the Olympics in the decades since it last hosted the Winter Games in St. Moritz in 1948.