France 2030 and Salt Lake 2034 Near Olympic Hosting Node

France 2030 and Salt Lake City 2034 got the nod from the International Olympic Committee's executive board, the penultimate step towards becoming Olympic winter Games hosts, the IOC said.

The bids will now await a vote of the Olympic body's session in Paris on July 24, Karl Stoss who heads the IOC's future host commission said, in what is largely a rubber stamping of the executive board's recommendation.

The French bid still needs to deliver some guarantees before the vote that could not be delivered on time due to the political situation in the country with legislative elections called last week.

One of the guarantees still to be delivered is the public partnership contribution from the two regions involved, Stoss said.

Two sites had already been picked as the only preferred bidders for their respective Games in November 2023.

The board also said the vetting process for Russian and Belarusian athletes who have qualified for the Paris Olympics has started but is far from complete.

Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the IOC initially recommended a ban from international competitions of athletes from Russia and its ally Belarus, but has since allowed them to qualify for the Paris Olympics as neutrals.

Yet each qualified athlete is undergoing a vetting process by a three-member panel appointed by the IOC to make sure they meet certain eligibility criteria.

Not having actively supported the war in Ukraine and not having been contracted to any military or security agency are among those criteria.

The IOC has said it expects to see about 36 Russian and 22 Belarusian athletes competing as neutrals in Paris.

The maximum number, depending on qualification standards and country quotas, and which is unlikely to be reached, would be 54 and 28 respectively.