Sapporo election could restart bid for 2030 Winter Olympics

By STEPHEN WADE and YURI KAGEYAMA
Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — Sapporo’s bid for the 2030 Winter Olympics has been slowed by fallout from the still-developing corruption scandal around the 2020 Tokyo Games. The pursuit could resume if Sapporo Mayor Katsuhiro Akimoto is re-elected, as expected, against two anti-Olympic candidates. The Japanese city suspended actively promoting the bid three months ago and hoped damage from Tokyo’s scandal would fade from view. Sapporo was viewed as the favorite of the International Olympic Committee until arrests began last summer connected to bid-rigging, vote-buying, and bribery around the Tokyo Olympics. Without a clear candidate the IOC has pursued Stockholm, Sweden, which now appears as a favorite.