Sapporo –

In the face of strong local opposition, the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) and Sapporo will explore the idea of changing the city’s 2030 Winter Olympics bid to one for the 2034 edition.

The move comes despite the re-election of Katsuhiro Akimoto, who was supportive of Sapporo’s Olympic bid, as the city's mayor on Sunday over two candidates who were opposed to it.

But exit polls by the Hokkaido Shimbun showed that 60% of Sapporo voters opposed the bid, while 34.9% were supportive. A separate Jiji Press exit poll also showed that 53% of Sapporo voters were opposed to the 2030 bid, compared with the 27% who supported it.

Concerned about the opposition, JOC Chairman Yasuhiro Yamashita told reporters in Tokyo on Monday that it would be difficult to proceed with the 2030 bid and that the JOC and Sapporo would explore the possibility of a 2034 Winter Games bid.

“Of course, we’re not limiting the bid to a certain time frame,” Yamashita said.

“We want to host the Winter Olympics at all costs. But the timing may be different (from the original plan to host the 2030 Games) in order to gain the understanding of local residents,” Yamashita was quoted as saying by NHK.

In an interview with Jiji Press on Monday, Akimoto said that he wanted to discuss with the JOC whether to bid for the 2030 Games or for a Winter Games after that.

Opposition to the 2030 bid became particularly strong after a string of corruption and bribery scandals connected to the Tokyo Games emerged last year. Sapporo voters also became concerned about how much hosting the Winter Olympics and Paralympics would really cost, and whether they would get stuck with the bill.

In March 2022, before the Tokyo Olympics scandal erupted, a city survey had shown that a slight majority, 52.2%, supported the bid.

If Sapporo does withdraw from the 2030 race, it could put the International Olympic Committee in a bind. The host for that edition was originally supposed to have been decided last year. In December, citing concerns about future climate conditions for the Winter Games, the International Olympic Committee agreed to postpone the 2030 decision until later this year.

If Sapporo decides to bow out from the 2030 race, it’s unclear who would be awarded the Games. Vancouver, which hosted the 2010 edition, had expressed an interest in bidding, but withdrew after the government of British Columbia refused to back the bid over cost concerns.

Salt Lake City, Utah, which hosted the Games in 2002, had said that it was prepared to bid for the 2030 Games if necessary, but added that it preferred to wait until 2034.

At the moment, no other candidates for 2030 appear to be in the running. However, Sweden is looking into the possibility of a joint bid with Latvia, while Switzerland has indicated some interest.