IOC visits Lyon amid leadership turmoil for 2030 Winter Olympics

Pierre-Olivier Beckers-Vieujant (right), head of the IOC's coordination commission, said that the Games were on schedule despite the leadership crisis. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Monday began a three-day visit to Lyon to check on the progress of the 2030 Winter Olympics, which has been hit by a leadership crisis.

Following months of tension, the head of the Games’ organising committee, Edgar Grospiron, resigned his post last week.

Vincent Roberti, deputy head of the organising committee, was on Monday appointed to serve as interim president while a successor to Grospiron is found.

“President Grospiron has taken responsibility for his actions. And he has decided... following the governance tensions that have arisen in recent months, that it was time to bring in new leadership,” Pierre-Olivier Beckers, chair of the 2030 Olympic Games Coordination Commission within the IOC, said in Lyon.

The delegation of around 30 people is due to spend three days inspecting the venues that will host the ice sports events in 2030, which will take place across the French Alps.

Despite the leadership challenges met by organisers, the IOC reiterated on Monday its continuing “confidence” in the project.

Beckers insisted there was “no deadline” for finding Grospiron’s replacement, adding: “We must take our time without wasting it and ensure we find the right person.”

Speaking on behalf of the IOC, he further said “we are on schedule” and “we are confident”, regarding the organisation of the Games.

ALSO READ | Beds too short in ‘worst-ever’ Asian Games rooms, says South Korea

Officials, including Tony Estanguet, the former canoe champion who organised the 2024 Summer Games in Paris, have said they are not interested in the role. “No, I won’t be going for it,” Estanguet told AFP.

A total of 75 ice hockey matches, 150 curling matches, 16 figure skating sessions, nine short-track events and the synchronised figure skating are to be hosted at various venues across the Lyon region.

The organisers had been forced to hastily relocate the ice sports centre from Nice to Lyon earlier this year, after the south coast city’s new mayor refused to allow a temporary ice rink to be set up in a local football stadium.

The delegation’s visit is “intended, among other things, to give final approval to the allocation of sports and disciplines across the various venues that have been selected in Lyon”, Beckers said.