Bids for 2036 Olympic Games due by end of the month
Aspiring hosts of the 2036 Olympic Games will have until the end of the month to declare their interest in staging the multi-sport event.
The quadrennial summer Games will be staged in Los Angeles in 2028 and Brisbane in 2032 but submissions for the following event will now close at the end of October after the governing International Olympic Committee set out steps for selection.
They state that there are seven nations interested thus far, but more could join the list.
The two favourites at this early stage appear to be Qatar – which will use its 2022 World Cup infrastructure as a base – and India, which is hosting the 2030 Commonwealth Games in what many are describing as a rehearsal run.
Olympic Games taking bids
Elsewhere there are European bids from Germany – in an event that would mark 100 years since the infamous 1936 Berlin Olympic Games – as well as Hungary, a staple of the athletics hosting circuit, and Turkey.
Outside of Europe there are bids from South Africa, in what would be the first Games hosted on the continent, and the Republic of Korea – which hosted the 2018 Winter Olympics and featured a united North-South Korea ice hockey team.
There could also be bids from the likes of Chile, Egypt, Denmark, Indonesia and Canada.
“I was fortunate to compete at five Olympic Games, across four continents. Each had their own character,” said IOC president Kirsty Coventry. “Each host brought something unique through its people, its culture and the way it chose to stage the Games.”
Bids will be assessed on: the venue masterplan; funding strategy; political support; delivery capabilities; and legacy strategy. After the October deadline, presentations will be made to the future host commission by interested parties before assessments are made in March, when strategic dialogue with preferred bids begins.
Britain has expressed an interest in looking at an Olympic bid in the 2040s.