Sapporo Winter Olympic Bid May Be Delayed to 2030

May 10, 2018

Tokyo- Sapporo has expressed a wish to host the Winter Olympics and Paralympics in 2030 instead of 2026, the year for which the northern Japan city originally bid, informed sources said Thursday.

The capital of Hokkaido is considering revising its bid and has indicated its wish to the Japanese Olympic Committee unofficially, the sources also said.

The two sides are expected to hold discussions on the matter soon.

Sapporo is among the cities participating in the International Olympic Committee dialogue stage to select the host city for the 2026 Games.

The candidate cities will be decided in October this year, and the host city at an IOC session in September 2019.

In Hokkaido, some businesspeople say Sapporo should switch to bidding for the 2030 Games, as Hokkaido Railway Co., or JR Hokkaido, plans to open a Hokkaido Shinkansen bullet train line extension reaching Sapporo by the end of fiscal 2030.

Furthermore, many observers believe Sapporo's chances of being chosen as the 2026 Games host is small since the host cities for the previous two Winter Games are in Asia, the sources said.

Other cities bidding for the 2026 Games include Calgary in Canada, Sion in Switzerland and Stockholm in Sweden. Jiji Press