Salt Lake City celebrates announcement that it will host the 2034 Winter Olympics

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Salt Lake City was formally awarded the 2034 Winter Olympics following a Wednesday vote by the International Olympic Committee in Paris, giving Utah its second Games after hosting in 2002.

About a thousand sports fans gathered downtown at 3 a.m. local time — 11 a.m. in Paris — to watch the long-anticipated announcement live. Some dressed in ski gear in the summer heat, while others donned Team USA merchandise and waved flags with the Olympic rings. The crowd erupted in cheers as Olympic officials made their final decision to return to a city where they said the local enthusiasm was palpable even two decades after it first hosted.

Utah's capital city was the only candidate for 2034 after the Olympic committee gave Salt Lake City exclusive negotiating rights last year. Climate change and high operational costs have reduced the number of cities willing and able to welcome the Winter Games. Utah has capitalized on low interest elsewhere, pitching itself to Olympic officials as an eager repeat host if the committee eventually adopts a permanent rotation of Winter Olympic cities. Olympic Games Executive Director Christophe Dubi said Salt Lake City would be a prime candidate for such a plan.

Local leaders had their sights set on hosting multiple times even before Salt Lake City welcomed its first Games, bid team spokesperson Tom Kelly said. Remnants of the 2002 Games are nestled throughout the city and have kept the Olympic fever alive. Organizers of the 2034 Games touted that enduring enthusiasm throughout the selection process and showed visiting Olympic officials how they have preserved nearly all the venues used in 2002.

“Enthusiasm for the Games was always our feeling, on the first minute to the last minute, in every interaction we had, both at the venues and in our meetings with athletes, sports leaders, politicians and the private sector,” Karl Stoss, chairman of the International Olympic Committee’s Future Host Commission, told the full committee Wednesday morning in Paris.

Darrell Robinson of Herriman, Utah, celebrated with his family in the early hours Wednesday after his daughter, who was too young to remember Utah’s first Olympics, begged him to join her at the Salt Lake watch party. Robinson also was present when it was announced that the city would host the 2002 Games, and he said it was amazing to relive that moment.

The 2002 Games closely followed the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and provided a unifying atmosphere Robinson said was needed at the time.

“Everyone was really united and we were able to invite all these countries and just heal as a global community,” he said. “That's something we need again.”

Wednesday's local party coincided with a state holiday marking the date Mormon pioneers discovered the Salt Lake Valley in northern Utah. A drone show lit up the sky over City Hall and parade floats lined the streets, merging the two celebrations into one.

In their final presentation to Olympic officials, the Utah bid team outlined its plan for one of the most compact layouts in Olympic history, with all venues within a one-hour drive of the athletes village on the University of Utah campus. The plan requires no new permanent construction, with all 13 venues already in place and each having played a role when the city first hosted.

Before the vote, Olympic officials inserted into Salt Lake City's host contract a clause that said local officials must work with current and future U.S. presidents and members of Congress to alleviate concerns about a U.S. federal investigation of suspected doping by Chinese swimmers. The committee's unprecedented strong-arm tactics seemed to send a message that the FBI should back away from the case.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox agreed to the committee's demands but told reporters after the vote that the shakeup nearly delayed the bid agreement.

For Cox, securing the bid was central to his goal of cementing the state as North America’s winter sports capital. He and other local leaders were in Paris for the presentation, while many winter Olympians stayed in town to train and join in the festivities.

American freestyle skier Christopher Lillis, a gold medalist at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, said the 2034 Games will be a dream come true for young people with Olympic aspirations. He has been training at nearby Utah Olympic Park and said the sports facilities in the area are “top notch.”

Kate Cross, the mother of a young girl who described herself as a “future gold medalist skier," said the Olympics are the ultimate source of inspiration. Cross moved to Utah a few years after the 2002 Games and is excited to attend Olympic events in person for the first time — possibly as the parent of an athlete.

“We're out here in the middle of the night because she's too excited to sleep,” Cross said. “It's given her something to strive for, a 10-year plan. As a parent, it's amazing to see your kid that motivated.”

People celebrate while watching a live feed from Paris at the moment the International Olympic Committee awarded Salt Lake City the 2034 Winter Olympics, Wednesday, July 24, 2024, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Spenser Heaps)

People celebrate while watching a live feed from Paris at the moment the International Olympic Committee awarded Salt Lake City the 2034 Winter Olympics, Wednesday, July 24, 2024, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Spenser Heaps)

People celebrate while watching a live feed from Paris moments after the International Olympic Committee awarded Salt Lake City the 2034 Winter Olympics, Wednesday, July 24, 2024, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Spenser Heaps)

People celebrate while watching a live feed from Paris moments after the International Olympic Committee awarded Salt Lake City the 2034 Winter Olympics, Wednesday, July 24, 2024, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Spenser Heaps)

Olympic rings are pictured Wednesday, July 24, 2024, in Salt Lake City, while people gather to watch a live stream from Paris as the International Olympic Committee awards Salt Lake City the 2034 Winter Olympics. (AP Photo/Spenser Heaps)

People celebrate while watching a live feed from Paris at the moment the International Olympic Committee awarded Salt Lake City the 2034 Winter Olympics, Wednesday, July 24, 2024, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Spenser Heaps)

Patricia Huhem, left, and her daughter, Elisa Huhem, celebrate while watching a live feed from Paris moments after the International Olympic Committee awarded Salt Lake City the 2034 Winter Olympics, Wednesday, July 24, 2024, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Spenser Heaps)

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox speaks about Salt Lake City's bid to host the 2034 Winter Olympics, during the 142nd IOC session at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, July 24, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

A woman makes a selfie with Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, left, and IOC president Thomas Bach, center, during the 142nd IOC session at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, July 24, 2024, in Paris, France, after Salt Lake City was confirmed as host for the 2034 Winter Games by International Olympic Committee. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Utah's Olympic delegation poses for a photo at a sendoff celebration at the Salt Lake International Airport prior to boarding a flight to France on Monday, July 22, 2024. (Scott G Winterton/The Deseret News via AP)

Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, left, Fraser Bullock and Utah Gov. Spencer Cox take a selfie near the plane as Utah's Olympic delegation boards Delta Flight 2034, Monday, July 22, 2024, bound for Paris from the Salt Lake International Airport. (Scott G Winterton/The Deseret News via AP)

Olympic champion Derek Parra, Fraser Bullock, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall and others laugh as they cut a cake as Utah's Olympic delegation gather for a sendoff celebration, Monday, July 22, 2024, at the Salt Lake International Airport prior to boarding a flight to France. (Scott G Winterton/The Deseret News via AP)

Delta flight 2034 bound for Paris and carrying Utah's Olympic delegation takes off from the Salt Lake International Airport, Monday, July 22, 2024. (Scott G Winterton/The Deseret News via AP)

Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, Fraser Bullock and Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, from left, pose for a photo near the plane as Utah's Olympic delegation boards Delta Flight 2034, Monday, July 22, 2024, bound for Paris at the Salt Lake International Airport.. (Scott G Winterton/The Deseret News via AP)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s government said Saturday that Brazil can no longer represent Argentina’s diplomatic interests in the country, putting several anti-government opponents holed up for months in the Argentine ambassador’s residence seeking asylum at risk.

Venezuela's foreign ministry said in a statement that it had notified Brazil of its decision, which will take effect immediately. It said it was forced to take action based on what it called evidence — which it hasn't shared — that those who sought refuge in Argentina's diplomatic mission were conspiring to carry out “terrorist” acts, including the assassination of President Nicolas Maduro and his vice president.

Saturday's move is the latest burst of friction between the countries. Argentina’s president has been among those leading the charge against Maduro over alleged attempts to steal July’s presidential election. Electoral authorities pronounced Maduro the winner despite strong evidence collected at the ballot boxes by the opposition that it prevailed by a more than 2-to-1 margin. Since the election, thousands have been arrested in a brutal crackdown.

Magalli Meda, the former campaign chief of opposition leader María Corina Machado, was among a half-dozen government opponents who fled to the Argentina ambassador’s residence after Maduro’s chief prosecutor issued an order for her arrest in March for allegedly propagating destabilizing political violence.

In retaliation, Maduro broke off diplomatic relations with Argentine President Javier Milei’s right-wing government, which tapped neighbor Brazil to represent its interests and safeguard the asylum seekers.

Brazil's foreign ministry, in a statement, said it was “surprised” by Venezuela's decision. Under the Vienna Convention governing diplomatic relations, Argentina must now name a substitute custodian acceptable to Venezuela's government, the foreign ministry said. Meanwhile, Brazil will remain responsible for the diplomatic mission, whose physical integrity cannot be violated, the statement said.

Since Friday, armored vehicles from the SEBIN political police have been parked outside the Argentina ambassador’s residence in a leafy Caracas neighborhood. Electricity to the diplomatic mission was also cut, according to Meda, who has taken to social media to denounce what she fears is an impending raid to arrest her and the other government opponents.

On Saturday, Milei’s government blasted Venezuela’s “unilateral action.” It also expressed gratitude for Brazil’s continued representation of its interests, indicating it wasn’t in any rush to find a replacement.

In a statement, the foreign ministry said any attempt to raid its ambassadorial residence and “kidnap” its asylum seekers would be condemned by the international community.

“Actions like these reinforce the conviction that in Maduro’s Venezuela the fundamental rights of human beings are not respected,” the foreign ministry said.

Brazil has also refused to recognize Maduro as the victor in the presidential election, demanding instead that authorities release a breakdown of results, as is customary in Venezuelan elections.

But unlike Milei, a strident conservative ideologue, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has gingerly tried to avoid antagonizing Maduro to give space for a regional reconciliation effort led by him and fellow leftist leaders from Colombia and Mexico.

That diplomatic effort has so far yielded few results, prompting observers to question its utility. Meanwhile, police have arrested more than 2,400 people in a brutal crackdown on protests and dissent.

This past week, Human Rights Watch issued a report connecting security forces and pro-government armed groups to the killing of several of the 23 protesters. The report was based on forensic analysis of videos shared on social media as well as interviews with witnesses.

Associated Press writer Joshua Goodman contributed to this report from Miami.

Police guard Argentina's embassy in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)