Seven countries interested in hosting 2026 Winter Olympics
FILE - In this Feb. 10, 2006, file photo, Korea's flag-bearers Bora Lee and Jong-In Lee, carrying a unification flag lead their teams into the stadium during the 2006 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Turin, Italy. When athletes of the rival Koreas walked together behind a single flag for the first time since their 1945 division at the start of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, it was a highly emotional event that came on the wave of reconciliation mood following their leaders’ first-ever summit talks. Eighteen years later, now, the Koreas are pushing to produce a similar drama during the upcoming Pyeongchang Olympics. But they haven’t generated as much enthusiastic supports as they had both at home and abroad. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta, File)
| April 3, 2018, 10:28 p.m.
Lausanne, Switzerland • Seven countries are interested in hosting the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Cities in Austria, Canada, Italy, Japan, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey have submitted formal expressions of interest to the International Olympic Committee. The vote is scheduled for September 2019.
The IOC has tried to attract more bidders after only two candidates reached the vote for the 2022 Games.
Voters in and around Sion, Switzerland, will vote in June whether to continue with their bid, while Erzurum in eastern Turkey faces questions over security.
Four former host cities are also bidding, including 1972 host Sapporo, 1988 host Calgary and 1956 host Cortina d'Ampezzo. Turin, which hosted the 2006 Games, is part of a joint bid with Milan.