UPDATE (10 January 2023): Mayor of Chamonix, Éric Fournier, has confirmed that a joint bid (with Valais and the Aosta Valley) for the Winter Olympic Games “is not on the agenda”
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Chamonix is currently preparing a bid to host the 2030 Winter Olympic Games, in partnership with the Valais region of Switzerland and the Aosta Valley.
According to the Swiss newspaper ‘Le Temps’, a committee has started working on the international project.
100th Anniversary of the first Winter Olympics
Next year Chamonix will celebrate the centenary of the first ever Winter Olympics, which took place in the Haute Savoie resort in 1924. A bid would be a welcome addition to the resort’s planned celebrations.
France has not hosted the Winter Olympics since the event was held in Albertville in 1992, with the ski events taking place in Courchevel and Meribel. Grenoble also hosted the event in 1968.
Previous Swiss bids unsuccessful
Switzerland has hosted the Games twice before, in St Moritz in 1928 and 1948. Since then the Valais region has bid unsuccessfully for the 1976, 2002, 2006 and 2026 Winter Olympics. The 2026 bid was brought to a halt after a local referendum voted against it.
According to ‘Le Temps’ the Swiss Olympic Committee does not currently support a bid, but planning has evidently started.
Who wants the 2030 Games?
Sapporo in Japan, Catalonia in Spain and Vancouver in Canada have also started (and stopped) for the 2030 Games.