Swiss Olympic Committee Backs Sion Bid For 2026 Winter Games

The Swiss Olympic Committee's exec board "voted to back Sion's bid to host the 2026 Winter Olympics," according to Brian Homewood of REUTERS. The decision "still has to be ratified" by the 86 Swiss Olympic sports federations, the "so-called sport parliament," in April and "could face a referendum" before it is officially presented to the IOC. Even so, it was "good news for the IOC," which has seen interest in hosting the summer and winter Olympics "fall away in the last few years, with cities either scared off by the size and cost of the Games or pressured by local opposition." Venues would be spread around Valais and the neighboring cantons of Fribourg, Berne and Vaud. Head of the Sion Organizing Committee Jean-Philippe Rochat said, "We are convinced that this can bring something new to Switzerland" (REUTERS, 3/7).