The government of Catalonia is considering including Sarajevo in Barcelona’s bid to organize the Winter Olympics in 2030, was exclusively confirmed for Dnevni Avaz, by the government of this Spanish province.
The reply, signed by Catalonia’s government media coordinator Marti Anglada, states that the nomination, called Pyrenees-Catalonia, has not yet been formally addressed to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), but that too will be done soon.
Anglada wrote that more than two years ago, the Generalitat (Government of Catalonia, op. A.) Initiated a dialogue with the IOC in the preparation, but the candidature could not be formalized until a new Spanish government was constituted. It happened a few days ago and they hope it will be formally submitted soon. The continuation of the response from Catalonia, which interests us most, is the possibility of Sarajevo being part of Barcelona’s bid to host the Winter Olympic Games in 2030.
The possibility of including Sarajevo in the Pyrenees – Barcelona bid would restore the spirit of 1992, when the two Olympic capitals twinned and Sarajevo became the 11th district of Barcelona – a response from the Catalan government stated.
The 1984 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIV Olympic Winter Games was a winter multi-sport event which took place from 8–19 February 1984 in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, in what is now Bosnia and Herzegovina. Other candidate cities were Sapporo, Japan; and Gothenburg, Sweden.
It was the first Winter Olympic Games held in a socialist state and in a Slavic language-speaking country.
It was also the second Olympics overall, as well as the second consecutive Olympics, to be held in a socialist and in a Slavic language-speaking country after the 1980 Summer Olympics were held in Moscow, Soviet Union.
Furthermore, it was the first Olympics held in the Balkans after the first modern Games in Athens. The Sarajevo games have also been the only Olympics so far to be hosted by a Non-Aligned Movement member.
