The 2026 Winter Olympics come to an end this Sunday.
In the wake of Team USA’s thrilling overtime victory over Canada in the men’s ice hockey gold medal game, what awaits is the Closing Ceremony and transfer to the next Olympic Games.
Where are those games held?
They are closer than you might think, especially for some of you reading this.
When are the next Olympic Games?
In 1994, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) changed the schedule of the summer and winter Olympic Games. Before that year, the Summer and Winter Games were held every four years, in the same year.
The Olympic Games are now held every two years, with four years between the Summer Olympics and four years between the Winter Olympics. The 1994 Winter Olympics were held in Lillehammer, Norway, and were followed by the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
That means the next test of Olympic competition will arrive in the summer of 2028 and, for some readers, it will take place in their own backyard. The 2028 Summer Olympics are scheduled for Los Angeles, although some events will be held elsewhere in the United States. Preliminary games for the football tournament will take place in locations such as New York City, Columbus, Ohio, St. Louis, Missouri, and more. Additionally, Oklahoma will host the softball tournament and the canoe slalom.
You can see a map of the 2028 Los Angeles Games here, courtesy of LA28.org:
This will be the first time the Olympic Games return to the United States since the 2002 Winter Olympics, which were held in Salt Lake City, and the first time the Summer Olympics return to the United States since the 1996 Atlanta Games.
This is also the third time Los Angeles has hosted the Summer Olympics. The 1932 Summer Olympics were held in Los Angeles (after the Winter Games were held in Lake Placid earlier that year) and the 1984 Summer Olympics were also held in Los Angeles.
Where will the next Winter Olympic Games be?
Some of you may have spent the last few weeks falling in love with various winter events, like curling or ski mountaineering, the newest event added to the Winter Olympics.
If you’re wondering when and where the next Winter Olympics will be held, it will be in 2030 in the French Alps. The Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions will host most of the events, while the ice competitions will be held in Nice.
France has hosted the Winter Games on three different occasions: Chamonix in 1924, Grenoble in 1968 and Albertville in 1992.