IOC president Thomas Bach speaks during the 134th Session of the IOC at the SwissTech Convention Centre in Lausanne, on June 24, 2019.

LAUSANNE, June 24, 2019 – At the Swiss Tech Convention Center everything is ready for the decision of the IOC 134th Session which is going to be taken at 6pm this afternoon. Both Stockholm-Åre and Milano-Cortina delivered their technical presentations this morning and are now waiting for the final ‘emotional presentation’ to be held this afternoon.

Maybe everything has already been decided, but maybe some IOC Members are still waiting to make up their minds before choosing who’s going to host the 2026 Winter Olympic Games.

VOTING SYSTEM There’s a total of 95 IOC Members, but four of them are not present in Lausanne: the excused members are HRH the Grand-Duc de Luxembourg, Ms Danka Bartekova, Ms Hayley Wickenheiser, HRH Prince Jigyel Ugyen Wangchuck. There are 3 self-suspended members who are not taking part in the vote: Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah (Kuwait), Mr Patrick Joseph Hickey (Ireland) and Mr Frank Fredericks (Namibia). Of course being part of the respective bids the Swedish Members (Gunilla Lindberg, Stefan Holm) and Italian Members (Ivo Ferriani, Franco Carraro and Giovanni Malagò) are not going to vote as well. So there’s a total of 83 IOC members who can vote, but the IOC President has chosen to abstain: out of the 82 strong voting members a simple majority (50% of the votes + 1) is needed to be elected. In the case of a tie, the IOC President reserves the right to cast a tie-breaking vote.

STOCKHOLM ÅRE 2026 After their technical presentation the Swedish delegation, made up of Mats Årjes Swedish Olympic Committee President, the Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, the IOC Member Gunilla Lindberg and the chief of the Stockholm-Åre bid Richard Brisius, spoke to the international press “The Government fully support the bid and my presence here together with HRH Princess Victoria shows this – said the Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven – our bid strength stays in the embracement of this new term called Agenda2020, in which we truly believe”. “It’s in our DNA to deliver our commitment and all the stakeholders involved in this bid: business, political, civil society and sport movement are all united in standing together for this opportunity”.

MILANO-CORTINA 2026 For the Italian press conference the stage was taken by Italian Olympic Committee President Giovanni Malagò, Undersecretary of State, Giancarlo Giorgetti, Mayor of Milano Beppe Sala, Governor of Region Lombardia Attilio Fontana, Governor of Regione Veneto Luca Zaia, Mayor of Cortina Gianpietro Ghedina, President of Paralympic Committee Luca Pancalli and Bid Coordinator Diana Bianchedi. “Our bid strength lies in the unicity of this project which is combining the vitality of Milano with the pearl of the Dolomites, Cortina – CONI President Giovanni Malagò said”. “By managing Milano Expo 2015 we have received 21 milion visitors and the city jumped from 5 to 9 milion of tourist per year having a great advantage for this major challenge, the Winter Olympic Games are something we can manage and the fact that you can see all the different political parties represented at this table tells you about the unity of this project”.