Salt Lake City will host the 2034 Winter Olympics

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

About a thousand sports fans gathered in downtown Salt Lake City at 3 a.m. local time — 11 a.m. in Paris — to watch the long-anticipated announcement on a livestream. 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.