The news is now official. France is a candidate to host the 2030 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. On Tuesday, November 7, the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) submitted the bid submitted by the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (southeast-central) and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (southeastern) regions to the International Olympic Committee (IOC). CNOSF President David Lappartient unveiled the main principles at the Maison du sport français in Paris, along with the presidents of the two regional executives, Laurent Wauquiez and Renaud Muselier, and the head of the Paralympic Committee (CPSF) Le Fur.

"The French Alps are the most beautiful natural setting for reviving the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. The memories of Albertville [1992] are still very strong," said Wauquiez enthusiastically. "We were the last out of the starting gate [compared with rival bids from Switzerland and Sweden], but we hope to be the first to arrive," added Lappartient optimistically, who stated during the summer that France "has a real chance. The timing is right and our infrastructures are very attractive."

Yet the timing is surprising. Hastily put together over the summer, France's bid for the 2030 Winter Olympics comes at a time before the Paris 2024 Games have even begun. With two events so closely scheduled in time, it is reasonable to question France's chances of winning. But then again it is worth noting the IOC's double award of the Games, in the case of Salt Lake City, initially a candidate for the 2030 Games, which is now set to host the 2034 Games as well, just six years after the Los Angeles 2028 Summer Games. The proximity between consecutive events no longer seems to be an obstacle for the Lausanne-based body when it comes to awarding events.

France, which hosted the Winter Games in 1924 in Chamonix, 1968 in Grenoble and 1992 in Albertville, is promising to organize "sober and responsible" Games – "the first sustainable Olympics" – in winter 2030, thanks to its use of 95% existing infrastructure, as Wauquiez pointed out. The head of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region wants to "make the French Alps the first sustainable mountains in the world," and the Games will be a "catalyst" to help them achieve this.

The 2030 project, with an estimated budget of 1.5 billion euros – "no higher than Milan-Cortina in 2026," promised Lappartient – calls for the construction of just one facility, an ice rink in Nice, where the ice events (field hockey, curling, figure skating) will be held. The various venues for the Games are divided into four geographical hubs, namely Haute-Savoie (eastern), Savoie (southeastern), Briançonnais (southeastern) and Nice Côte d'Azur (southern).

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