Salt Lake City to host 2034 Olympic Games

The Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games will return to Utah’s capital city after 32 years, the International Olympic Committee said Wednesday. Salt Lake City and Utah are longtime friends of the Olympic organization and the committee is confident that they will once again organize exceptional games, said IOC President Thomas Bach. The committee gave a landslide vote to approve the venue while meeting in France days before the 2024 Summer Games kick off in Paris.

What about Salt Lake specifically appealed to the committee? However, the committee expressed concern about potentially negative impacts of the United States hosting international games after it challenged the authority of the World Anti-Doping Agency, or WADA. The U.S. Department of Justice launched an investigation into whether 23 Chinese swimmers used performance-enhancing drugs at the 2021 games despite the agency clearing the athletes. WADA was disappointed to hear about the DOJ investigation. The international ruling came after diligent review and expert input, unlike misleading news reports the United States has based its investigation on, WADA said in a statement.

Utah games are still a decade away. The Italian locales of Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo will host the next round of winter games in 2026. 

Dig deeper: Read Bob Jones’ report on the 2002 Winter Olympics from the WORLD Archives.