The Olympics should be easier and cheaper to stage under a raft of reforms designed to make the Games more attractive for potential hosts.
Potential Olympic cities will be given greater freedom in the way they stage the Games in a more streamlined approach by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which is hoped will also lead to massive savings.
A set of 118 reforms presented to the IOC Session in Pyeongchang yesterday also includes measures to provide more support for host cities and boost long-term development. The 2018 Games begin in Pyeongchang on Friday.
IOC president Thomas Bach said the plan would lead to a “new norm” in Olympics from the candidature, the delivery and the legacy, and lead to “the biggest savings in the history of the Olympic Games”.
The IOC has been reacting to dwindling interest in hosting the Games — with costs and sustainability of venues cited as factors — by simplifying the bid process and reducing candidates’ budgets.
It is currently in a dialogue stage with four cities interested in hosting the 2026 Games — thought to be Calgary in Canada, Sapporo in Japan, Sion in Switzerland and Stockholm in Sweden. Others have until March 31 to state an interest.
“The IOC will work with cities every step of the way to ensure that the Games are affordable, beneficial and sustainable,” a statement said.
IOC member John Coates, who heads a committee analysing Games operations, said a “robust plan” has emerged “that reduces complexity and costs, while maximising flexibility and partnership”.
Measures already begun as part of the Olympic Agenda 2020 have helped reduce Tokyo 2022’s revised venue budget by 2.2bn dollars, the IOC said. 
The 2024 Games bid turned into a two-city race between Paris and Los Angeles — and an agreement in the end to give Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028 — after Budapest, Boston, Hamburg and Rome had all pulled out, putting into question Bach’s Agenda 2020 reforms.
Referendums had also scuppered potential Winter Games hosts, and the award of the 2022 Games to Beijing came with only Almaty as a rival.