There was widespread excitement in Park City on July 24 as the International Olympic Committee selected Salt Lake City as the host of the 2034 Winter Olympics.

And there was also likely a round of cheers in the community as the IOC also selected France as the host of the Games of four years earlier, as a sprawling bid involving the south of France and the Alps was named the host of the 2030 event.

A group of students from Park City’s sister city of Courchevel, France, was in the state from July 20 until Sunday, a time period that included the announcement of the locations for the Winter Olympics in 2030 and 2034, as well as the celebrations making the selection of Salt Lake City. It was by happenstance that the students were in Park City at the time, but their presence added a different dimension to the historic day. Courchevel is identified as a location for some of the competitions in the Games of 2030.

Park City and Courchevel operate a student-exchange program, and the 16 students, ranging in age from 16 to 18, were in Park City as part of the exchange, along with four chaperones. Park City students were in Courchevel in February.

“It’s almost destiny,” Tina Quayle, the president of the Park City Sister City Association, said about the awarding of the two Games at the same time and as the French students were in the community.

Quayle said there will be opportunities for the sister cities to engage as they each plan for their respective Games. She said they can learn from each other as they prepare. Quayle predicted a group from Park City will travel to France for the Games in 2030 as part of the preparations.

“You can bet there will be a contingent invited to the Olympics in 2030,” she said. “I’m certain there will be.”

Quayle said the officials in Park City who plan for the Games can learn from the French as they ready the 2030 event. She said, as an example, the French excel at putting on a spectacle.

“Their showmanship when it comes to fireworks, drones, lights … putting all of that together,” she said. “They know how to put on a show. And their shows have a French flavor, which is different than an American flavor.”

She pointed to the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Paris as she spoke.

The Park City area is critical to the plans for a second Games in the state, as was the case during the 2002 Winter Olympics. Park City Mountain, Deer Valley Resort and the Utah Olympic Park are identified as key competition venues. The area will also be important to the traffic, security and celebration plans.

The student exchange followed in the months after a contingent from the south of France visited the Park City area as part of a wider mission to Utah in an effort to learn about the Games. An official from the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur regional council led the French delegation in January, expressing confidence in the region’s ability to stage the Games and saying the French Alps are predicted to have adequate snow for a Winter Olympics through 2050.