Winter Olympics in NL in 2030? Decision on speed skating in Thialf to be made next month
A massive 102 years after the Amsterdam Games, Olympic competitions could take place in the Netherlands again in 2030. The organizers will make their decision next month, but there is a strong chance that the long-track speed skating competitions of the Winter Olympics 2030 will happen in Thialf in Heerenveen, NOS reports.
This ball started rolling in November 2023, when the French Olympic Committee announced that it wanted to host all disciplines of the 2030 Winter Games in the French Alps on home soil. All disciplines, except one. France does not have a suitable ice rink for long-track speed skating, so it was looking across the border. Heerenveen and Turin were its best options.
According ot Herbert Wolff, director of international relations at the Dutch sports federation NOC*NSF, “the French took the initiative for Olympic speed skating in Thialf.” At a meeting of national federations, the NOC*NSF asked the French president for more information. “Not much later, a request came from the French for an exploratory visit.”
That visit happened on May 9, 2024. “It was arranged on short notice, and most of the French people present at the time knew absolutely nothing about long-track speed skating. It was primarily intended to get a feel for the sport and location,” Wolf told NOS.
Thialf and the local and regional authorities were immediately on board, Thialf business manager Yvonne Kager told NOS. “We are not a country that can host the Winter Games. We simply don’t have the mountains,” she said. “If we can tackle this part together, we will do so wholeheartedly.”
After several more visits, a delegation from the organizing committee, including chairman Edgar Grospiron, arrived in Heerenveen on April 1, 2025. “At that point, things were already much more formal, and more administrators were involved than a year earlier,” Kager said. She answered question after question, mostly on how they planned to turn Thialf into a fully-fledged Olympic venue.
"I lost count of the number of questions," Kager said to the broadcaster. "'How are you going to regulate the flow of visitors? What are the ideas regarding the Olympic village?' From those questions, it goes a step further each time; every question leads to another. They want to have a very clear idea of what the situation is going to look like."
The last visit was less than a month ago and involved even more specialists in various fields, ranging from ice quality to ticket sales and transport. Wolff thinks there is a good chance that the Netherlands will host the long-track speed skating event for the 2030 Winter Games. “There was immediate enthusiasm for our facilities. We also spent a long time discussing the question: how do you bring the Olympic feeling to Heerenveen?”
NOC*NSF and the others involved already have plans in mind, including decorations and an Olympic Village where participating athletes can stay together. “Athletes often mention the sense of togetherness in an athletes’ village. We deliberately looked at a plan where we do not house the athletes in different locations within the Netherlands,” Wolff said.
The NOC*NSF is not yet willing to reveal where or what this Olympic village would look like, only saying that it is a “reasonably short distance from Thialf” and “an existing location where limited adjustments will be made to ensure an Olympic atmosphere.”
It is also not yet entirely clear what adjustments need to be made to Thialf to host the Games. “You cannot compare an Olympic tournament to a European or World Championship. Very different requirements apply to those,” Kager said.
But despite the work that it will entail, both Wolff and Kager await next month’s decision with eagerness and high hopes.
