The Swedish Olympic Committee (SOK) last month launched a feasibility study for staging the 2030 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, and is conducting "informal exchange" with the IOC.

It has approached the Latvian Olympic Committee (LOK) to gauge its interest in joining the bid, having also formed a part of Stockholm-Åre's unsuccessful attempt to secure hosting rights for the 2026 Winter Games.

High-profile Swedish official Lindberg has been an IOC member since 1996 and is a former vice-president of the organisation,

She has been a member of the Future Host Commission for the Olympic Winter Games since 2019.

Åsa Edlund Jönsson formally took over from Lindberg as SOK secretary general last month, ending her 34-year stint in the role.

Lindberg continues to serve on the SOK Board and as an adviser on international issues, and as Association of National Olympic Committees secretary general, a position she has held since 2004.

The IOC still lists Lindberg as a member of the Future Host Commission, headed by Romanian IOC member Octavian Morariu, on its website.

They contacted insidethegames to announce she that she had temporarily stood down due to her participation in the Future Host Commission to avoid a potential conflict of interest.

Should the SOK proceed to "continuous dialogue" with the IOC - which is described as exploratory, non-committal and non-edition specific - Lindberg would cease to become a member of the Future Host Commission.

The 2030 Games is set to mark the first Winter edition awarded under the IOC's new bidding process in which its Future Host Commission is responsible for identifying and proposing a preferred candidate from interested parties to the Executive Board, instead of a traditional bidding race such as that which Stockholm-Åre lost by 47 votes to 34 to Milan-Cortina for 2026 at the IOC Session in 2019.

The IOC Executive Board can then enter targeted dialogue with one or more preferred hosts for the Olympic Games, which was successful for Brisbane for the 2032 Summer edition, making approval at the Session in Tokyo in 2021 a formality.

Sweden revived its interest in staging the Winter Olympics and Paralympics after other interested parties faced various issues, which led to a postponement to plans to finalise a 2030 host at this year's delayed Session in Mumbai.

The bobsleigh, luge and skeleton track in Siguda in Latvia featured as part of the Stockholm-Åre 2026 bid, and the possibility of using indoor venues in Riga too for this bid has been discussed by Swedish and Latvian officials.

Latvia has formed a working group with representatives from the LOK, Ministries and participating local Governments to further examine the possibility of working with Sweden on a 2030 bid.

Sapporo in Japan had been viewed as the favourite for the 2030 Winter Games but "paused" its bid following growing public anger at the Tokyo 2020 bribery scandal, Vancouver in Canada's proposal has been hampered by a lack of British Columbia Government support, and a mooted Swiss, Italian and French proposal failed to materialise because of Chamonix's lack of interest.

Salt Lake City in the United States would be willing to stage the 2030 edition of the Games, but its preference is for four years later to avoid a clash with Los Angeles 2028 sponsorships.