MILAN (AP) \u2014 We\u2019ve got this. Really, we do.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re confident in our capacity to deliver these games in 2030 with a high degree of excellence,\u201d said Edgar Grospiron, the former Olympic champion freestyle skier who leads the organizing committee.<\/p>\n
The French Alps is officially next up on Sunday evening after a formal handover of the Olympic flag to its sports and public officials at the Milan Cortina Winter Games closing ceremony, being staged in Verona.<\/p>\n
Hours earlier, the French organizing committee holds a board meeting amid tension between Grospiron and his director general, Cyril Linette, who is set to be the latest executive exit from a team launched just one year ago.<\/a><\/p>\n Grospiron acknowledged the \u201cturbulence\u201d Saturday at the traditional Olympic news conference for the next games host.<\/p>\n \u201cFor these games to be successful we do need stability, serenity, continuity and the organizing committee needs this,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want to show the whole world, but also particularly the French, and I am sure that they will really see the worth of what we\u2019ve done.\u201d<\/p>\n The French Alps Winter Games \u2014 with speed skating destined to go abroad<\/a>, at Turin, Italy, or Heerenveen in the Netherlands, where venues already exist \u2014 has always been on the tightest timeline of any modern Olympics.<\/p>\n Sweden denied again<\/p>\n The outline of a bid came together only in 2023. At the time, the International Olympic Committee was in talks with Swedish officials<\/a> who had revived the Stockholm proposal that lost a hosting vote in 2019 against the Italian bid for these Winter Games that close Sunday.<\/p>\n Riding enthusiasm of preparations for the 2024 Paris Summer Games, from local Olympic officials and President Emmanuel Macron \u2014 whose term in office expires next year \u2014 the IOC and its then-leader Thomas Bach pivoted to France again. It left a bitter taste in Sweden<\/a>.<\/p>\n IOC members confirmed the French Alps win in Paris at their eve-of-games meeting, giving the project just 5\u00bd years to prepare.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know, obviously, that there is little time,\u201d Grospiron said. \u201cNot just the time but the budget is tight. But we know we can do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Spread-out Winter Games<\/p>\n