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Salt Lake City to pursue 2030 Winter Olympics

Olympic Bids-US Winter Games

FILE - This Feb. 8, 2002 file photo shows U.S. champion Michelle Kwan practicing for the women’s short program for the Winter Olympic Games at the Salt lake Ice Center in Salt Lake City. There’s an outside shot the United States won’t have to wait 11 years to host its next Olympics. It’s a longshot, but there’s talk in Salt Lake City, and even some in Denver, of a bid for the 2026 Winter Games, which take place two years before the Summer Olympics return to Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Doug Mills, file)

AP

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Salt Lake City has become the first U.S. city to announce it will pursue a bid for the 2030 Winter Olympics.

An exploratory committee that studied the issue and state leaders announced the decision Wednesday after spending nearly four months ensuring Utah could host the Winter Games again without losing money. The city hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Salt Lake City also is open to bidding for 2026 but prefers 2030.

The U.S. Olympic Committee has until March to pick a city for 2026, though chief executive Scott Blackmun said recently that officials believe the 2030 Winter Olympics are more realistic for a U.S. city.

In the U.S., Denver and Reno are considering bids. Internationally, cities weighing bids include Sion, Switzerland; Calgary, Canada; Stockholm, Sweden; and Sapporo, Japan.