The split surrounding Sweden’s Olympic application

Sweden is taking a step closer to a Winter Olympics when both the municipalities concerned and the government have now backed the application.
But not everyone is equally positive about the application.
– It is extremely difficult to make it work financially, says Per Lindgren, communications manager at the Taxpayers’ Association, in Efter fem.

On Wednesday, it was announced that the city of Stockholm supports Sweden’s application to host the 2030 Winter Olympics and provides the required municipal guarantees. In the past, the government has also been positive about an Olympics in Sweden, as well as the other municipalities concerned.

But not everyone is equally happy that Sweden is now taking a step closer to a possible Olympics. The Taxpayers’ Association believes that you cannot throw taxpayers’ money at something that will not work financially in advance.

The SOK (Swedish Olympic Committee) has set a budget for the Winter Games, which Per Lindgren, head of communications at the Taxpayers’ Association, believes is half as large as previous Olympic budgets and believes that it is difficult to be hopeful.

– It is extremely difficult to get it together financially, says Per Lindgren in Efter fem.

SOK defends the budget

Hans von Uthmann, chairman of the Swedish Olympic Committee, believes, however, that there are other Olympics that have been successful, but that it is above all that they invest heavily in sustainability, that they do not build new arenas and that they take advantage of the localities’ already established organizations for major championship competitions that make you put such a low budget.

– All that contributes to lower costs compared to previous Olympics, says Hans von Uthmann to Efter fem.

But Per Lindgren does not think it holds, but believes that it is an echo since Sweden applied for the Olympics in 2026 when it sounded exactly the same. Italy then won the fight for the Olympics and the budget that was set has already been broken, several years before the Olympics are to be held.

Important for young people

But there are those who choose to focus on the positive effects. Alpine legend Anja Pärson believes that an Olympics on home soil would be good on several levels.

– After the pandemic, we have lost an enormous amount of young people who stopped playing sports, says Anja Pärson in Efter fem and continues:

– It is extremely important that young people have something to look forward to, it would come at exactly the right time.

Notification of the next phase is expected at the end of the month

The background to the application is that the IOC (International Olympic Committee) left a request to Sweden to look at the possibilities of organizing an Olympics in 2030 after they got the nod in 2026 when they had no candidate available who could imagine organizing the Winter Games.

At the turn of November/December, the IOC will announce which candidacies are invited to phase three. In addition to Sweden, France and Switzerland have also announced that they might consider hosting the Olympics in 2030. The host nation is supposed to be presented in connection with the Summer Olympics in Paris next summer. The Winter Games in Sweden are supposed to take place in Stockholm, Solna, Södertälje, Falun, Åre, Östersund and in Sigulda in Latvia if Sweden gets the chance to host the games.