Milano, Italy – On Sunday the mayor of Milan will hand the Olympic flag over to the mayor of Nice, France – the next Winter Olympics host – as part of the Milano Cortina 2026 closing ceremony at the 2000-year-old Verona Arena Roman amphitheater. The cauldrons at Arco della Pace and in Cortina will be snuffed and the mascots will wave goodbye.
But Olympic athletes, the rings and gold medals will be back in Italy, and sooner than you may think.
A year ago, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) awarded the 2028 Winter Youth Olympics to Italy’s Dolomiti Valtellina. With the intent to reuse some of the Milano Cortina venues including the newly-built sliding centre, a follow-up Games can also leverage the human legacy of experience and availability of skilled volunteers.
The last Gangwon 2024 Winter YOG in South Korea featured 1,803 athletes typically from 15 to 18 years of age and with near gender equity. 81 events across seven sports and 15 disciplines were staged.
And athletes could be coming back to Italy for the 2030 Winter Olympics too.
Those Games have been scheduled for the French Alps with most ice events in Nice and snow events further north in the mountains and 1992 host Albertville. One ice event, speed skating, requires a specialized oval rink that is not available in France. French organizers in Milan Saturday confirmed that they will be looking elsewhere to host speed skating at an existing facility suggesting either Heerenveen in Netherlands or Italy’s oval used for the Turin 2006 Winter Games.
“For the first time we will have a Games with a discipline in another European country. This will be new; we will see if other Games do it,” Edgar Grospiron, president of French Alps 2030 told reporters.
Though surfing at the Paris 2024 Games was contested in Tahiti, that French Polynesian Island is a territory of France.
The final sports program for 2030 along with the venue plan and a decision on speed skating were expected to be finalized in December but are now scheduled to be unveiled in June.
Turin was originally involved in Italy’s 2026 Winter Olympics bid tendered in 2019 but political disputes left the former host city out of the joint project that became Milano Cortina. Instead, a temporary oval was built in a convention center in Milan.
Now an Italian politician has his eyes set on hosting another Summer Games, with the first available edition in 2036.
According to Reuters, the former governor of Veneto – Cortina d’Ampezzo’s region – is looking into a bid by Venice to host those Olympics.
“Venice would only have a symbolic role, a focal point for the bid, but it would serve as an international showcase to promote the values of sustainability and the protection of a UNESCO World Heritage site,” former Veneto governor Luca Zaia said.
Leveraging the “widespread Games” mantra instilled by Milano Cortina, a Venice Games could be staged around Lake Garda on the border of Veneto and Milan’s Lombardy region with venues in cities such as Verona where the 2026 closing ceremony will be held, as well as Padua.
A Venice bid has yet to be discussed with the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) and the IOC, but if it were to move forward it would enter a very crowded and competitive field for 2036.
Doha in Qatar, Ahmedabad in India and North Jeolla province in South Korea have formalized 2036 campaigns.
Other potential 2036 or 2040 bids include Santiago in Chile, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Germany, Istanbul in Türkiye, Budapest in Hungary and Spain.
Previously CONI president Luciano Buonfiglio suggested Rome could host a future Games, with a potential 2040 edition marking the 80th anniversary of the 1960 Games in the Italian capital. Rome bid to host both the 2020 and 2024 Summer Games, but withdrew from both races after losing government support. The city also lost a 2004 bid, coming second to Athens.
The next Summer Games is scheduled for Los Angeles in 2028 followed by Brisbane, Australia in 2032. Utah, USA has already been elected to host the 2034 Winter Games and Switzerland is the only bid on a shortlist to host a national Winter Olympics, with that project still needing government and public approvals.
