At the moment, there is no confirmed bidder for the 2030 Winter Olympic Games.
According to @insidethegames, the Japanese Olympic Committee said Sapporo paused its bid, which it initially made back in March of 2022, because of the fallout that followed the 2020 Tokyo Games.
It’s a little bit early to start worrying about the 2030 Games, considering we aren’t even a year out from Paris 2024 yet. However, this realization isn’t exactly reassuring for the International Olympic Committee, which would usually have a confirmed bidder by now.
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Bribery and corruption allegations surfaced during the recent Summer Games in Tokyo. A former member of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics executive board, Haruyuki Takahashi, was arrested a number of times in 2022 for allegedly receiving bribes in exchange for Olympic sponsorship contracts.
As a result, several Japanese Olympic officials, including Seiko Hashimoto, an Olympic bronze medalist and former head of the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee, as well as Hokkaido Governor Naomichi Suzuki, were reluctant to get Japan involved again – so much so that even Sapporo mayor Katsuhiro Akimoto decided to pause the bid for the 2030 Games.
Despite the current halt, a follow-up survey could be possible, according to Akimoto.
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Sapporo was the first official bid for the 2030 Winter Olympics. It was initially supposed to host the 2026 Games, which will now be hosted by Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy.
