The Spanish Olympic Committee (COE) has said its plan for a joint bid – by the regions of Catalunya and Aragon – to co-host the 2030 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games has been approved, despite Aragon authorities still seemingly opposing the idea.
In an announcement on Friday (April 1), the COE said that at a meeting which was also attended by the Spanish government, and the Catalan regional government, “the [hosting] proposal presented, debated and agreed by the technical commission was validated. We hope and trust that the government of Aragon will join this proposal.”
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This statement comes a week after Javier Lamban, president of the local government of Aragon, rejected the aforementioned technical plan that the COE had issued for the co-hosting of the 2030 Olympics – he reportedly had reservations that the plan favored Catalunya too heavily in terms of the event split.
Although the COE has since said that the earlier plan had been discussed and agreed with all necessary bodies – including the Aragon government – the latter entity has now said the distribution of events “is not balanced” under the plan, and that it will therefore not give approval.
Instead, Lamban has now said he will put forward a more Aragon-centric proposal later this week, and that since the technical commission for Spain’s bid last met on March 22, nothing significant has changed in terms of the planned distribution of Olympic events.
Under the COE plan for the 2030 games, Aragon’s Pyrenees mountainous region would host biathlon and cross-country skiing, while the Catalan section of the Pyrenees will stage Alpine skiing, snowboarding and freestyle, as well as ski mountaineering.
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By GlobalDataIce hockey would also be held in Catalunya (Barcelona), while Aragon would put on the skating and curling events.
Lamban’s main issue seems to be that while all the Catalan regions and counties would have events ascribed to them, this does not apply equally to Aragon’s various districts. He has therefore claimed that the approach “clearly favors Catalunya.”
Other options in terms of 2030 hosts include Sapporo in Japan, British Columbia in Canada, and Salt Lake City in the US.
All three of those other destinations have hosted the Winter Olympics before, while Barcelona put on the 1992 Summer Games.
Previously, the Catalan government has said it will hold a referendum in the region about whether to proceed with the bid.
Spanish environmental activists have repeatedly raised concerns that staging the event could negatively impact the Pyrenees due to climate change.
The Barcelona-Aragon bid would also include events being held in the southernmost regions of Spain, as well as in Andorra.
Late last month, the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) said Salt Lake City’s bid to host the 2030 Winter Games was in “very good shape”.
Los Angeles, California has already been selected to host the 2028 Summer Games and Salt Lake City authorities have said they would be open to bidding on the 2034 Winter Olympics if they are not selected for 2030.
