In-Depth
Winter sports at risk
Climate change, venue availability and access to more people are among the challenges organizers and athletes face
getty images
A decision from the International Olympic Committee to, in effect, secure hosts through the next decade shored up the Winter Olympics for the foreseeable future. The French Alps and Salt Lake City, put forward as preferred hosts for 2030 and 2034, respectively, give the event some sorely needed stability.
But for winter sport athletes, organizers and officials, the challenges extend from now and far beyond those potential Games.
Perhaps none is bigger than climate change, which has shortened seasons and disrupted events as the extremes of weather have made holding competitions on snow and ice more challenging.
But it doesn’t stand alone. Unlike many of their Summer Olympics counterparts, some winter sports events require specialized venues that are difficult to maintain. And as the climate warms and the areas where athletes can pick up these sports shrinks, making them accessible to more (instead of fewer) people requires creativity on the part of sports governing bodies.
“The Winter Olympics has the same issues of relevancy as the Summer Olympics, just more concentrated,” said Roger Pielke Jr., a University of Colorado professor whose research focuses on climate and sport governance issues. “The Winter Olympics has, to their credit, been quick to adopt snowboarding and halfpipes and the multi-skier races and things like that. But I think it’s always going to be a struggle. It’s interesting because the world is getting much richer, especially poor places, but a lot of poor places don’t have mountains and ski areas, so that’s not necessarily going to expand the participant or audience base.
“The Winter Olympics are more capped. There’s a ceiling, a lower ceiling on relevancy that’s never going to be broken through. And climate change will exacerbate that because if it makes marginal areas more marginal, it just lowers that ceiling a little bit.”
In this section
CLIMATE — Olympic host cities grapple with long-term impact of climate change
VENUES — The sustainability of Winter Games facilities raises questions
ACCESS — Organizers aim to remove barriers to winter sport access
NEW GEAR — USA Bobsled on track for new fleet of sleds before 2026
INDUSTRY — Rush to outdoor activity benefits U.S. ski industry
