Asian nations in strong race to host 2036 Olympics

 October 7, 2024

HONG KONG  – Now that the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris are over, the world’s attention has swiftly shifted to potential bidders for the 2036 Games.

With Los Angeles set to host the Summer Olympics in 2028, and Brisbane, Australia, in 2032, the quadrennial sporting extravaganza is likely to return to Asia in 12 years.

Although in the early stages, the competition is expected to be intense. Two populous nations, India and Indonesia, are almost certain to throw their hats into the ring, along with South Korea, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkiye, after the International Olympic Committee officially opens the bid.

Egypt and South Africa have also shown interest, and if either of those succeeds, it would be the first time the Games are held on the African continent.

While the eagerness to host the Games indicates the rising Olympic awareness and growing sporting ethos in these countries, it also gives the winning bidder a chance to boost its economy and international standing, experts said.

“Many in the IOC think it’s time for an Asian country to step up to host the Olympics (again) as the Olympics is supposed to represent the world,” said James Chin, a professor of Asian Studies at the University of Tasmania in Australia.

Asian cities that have hosted the Summer Games include Beijing in 2008, Seoul in 1988, and Tokyo in 1964 and again in 2021, after it was delayed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Indonesia and India are seen as potentially strong hosts by the IOC due to their large populations and growing economic clout.

The process to select the host city is complex, with multiple rounds, Chin said, so it is hard to predict the result at this early stage. But the consensus leans toward an Asian city being chosen to host the 2036 Summer Olympics, he added.

New Delhi aims high

India is a strong contender after successfully organizing a series of Group of 20 events across the country last year.

While Narendra Modi’s government is also bidding for the 2030 Youth Olympics, the 2036 Games remain the main focus, Indian Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on the sidelines of the Olympic Council of Asia’s 44th General Assembly meeting in New Delhi on Sept 8.

“It is the dream of India to host the 2036 Olympics, we are making preparations for that,” Modi said in a speech on Aug 15 to mark the nation’s 78th Independence Day.

Mandaviya said strengthening India’s sports infrastructure, including for multisports events, is an ongoing process.

India’s National Olympic Committee and the Indian Olympic Association, or IOA, have started talks with the IOC’s Future Host Commission, which deals with the host selection process. The dialogue is the first step toward bidding for the right to host the Games.

“India can successfully host the 2036 Olympics and it has sufficient infrastructure to host this grand event. Since the announcement came from the PM, the IOA has been duty-bound to fulfill the vision of the PM,” IOA President PT Usha told China Daily.

Swaran Singh, a professor of diplomacy and disarmament at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, said India is aiming to host the Youth Olympics as well as the 2036 Games to promote sports among Indian youth, and provide them with home support to compete at the international level.

India has a young population, with a median age of 28, he said. “This large aspirational and restive youth can become more disciplined and productive by India supporting sports culture and events of this scale and prestige,” Singh said.

The country’s standing in international sports has grown in recent years, along with forecasts it will move from the world’s fifth largest economy to the third biggest within five years. Hosting the Olympics, therefore, would give India opportunities to connect with the world in multiple ways, and boost efforts toward the country becoming a developed nation by 2047.

“Of course, it (bidding for the Olympics) is also reflective of India’s ambitions to showcase its power and capabilities for hosting such mega events,” Singh said, pointing to the success of hosting the 2010 Commonwealth Games and a series of G20 meetings last year.

Sports historian and statistician Gautam Roy said India would need to build additional sports and related infrastructure to host the Games, which would boost its GDP growth.

In recent times, India has also seen a revival in its performances in international sports, he said.

After Beijing hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 2008, it triggered a dramatic improvement in China’s performances in the global arena, Roy said. This was evidenced by China’s rise in the medal tally at the Paris Games. India “will also look forward to similar achievements”, he said.

A contingent of 117 Indian athletes participated in the Paris Olympics. India won six medals — one silver and five bronze, according to Olympics.com.

“I am happy with India’s performance at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, though I would have loved to see more Indians win medals,” Usha said.

India’s best-ever Olympic performance was at Tokyo 2021, where it won seven medals, including one gold.

Soumitra Bose, a veteran sports journalist at The Times of India, said if India succeeded in hosting the Games, it would enhance its international reputation.

“Hosting the G20 had a similar goal and India’s image received a significant boost,” said Bose, who is also a consultant for a government-run sports organization.

As a host nation, India would have several notable advantages, such as sound economic growth, cheap labor, and previous experience in hosting international events, such as the cricket and hockey World Cups, and the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games.

The former captain of the Indian hockey team, JM Carvalho, welcomed India’s bid for the Games. “It’s one of the largest countries in the world and has a lot of potential. I’m sure that this is going to happen very soon,” he said.

Emerging economy

Indonesia, with its rapidly emerging economy and a population of 280 million, is also eager to host the 2036 Olympics.

President Joko Widodo announced in August 2022 that his government would bid for the Games. If successful, the event would be held in Indonesia’s planned new capital Nusantara, which is being carved out of the forest in East Kalimantan Province.

The president underscored the importance of sport for people’s health and its power to unite the world, according to local media reports.

Lukman Djajahadikusuma, general secretary of the National Sports Council, said in April that the Indonesian government was trying its best to win the 2036 Olympics. “Cooperation among all sides is important,” he said.

Indonesia hopes to impress Olympic evaluators through its track record of hosting the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang. “Indonesia has the infrastructure, the ambition and the willingness to do it,” Indonesia’s team leader at the Paris Olympics, Anindya Bakrie, said, according to an Associated Press report.

Sigit Permadi, secretary of the Malang, East Java, chapter of the Indonesian Badminton Association, said it is not easy to host a sporting event the size of the Olympic Games.

“But hosting such games makes us so proud as a nation,” Permadi said.

At the Paris Olympics, Indonesian athletes won two gold medals and one bronze and finished 39th on the medal table.

Muhammad Bayu Pratama, managing director of the daily newspaper Pikiran Rakyat, said if the 2036 Games were held in the new capital it would fill people across Indonesia with pride.

Other contenders

In South Korea, the mayor of Seoul, Oh Se-hoon, has declared the city’s intention to bid for the 2036 Summer Games, according to local media reports. In an Aug 11 Facebook post titled “Again, the Seoul Olympics”, Oh expressed confidence in the bid, citing advantages such as his country’s “well-established infrastructure and robust public safety measures”, reported the Korean Herald.

If South Korea succeeds in its bid, it will be the second time the country has hosted the sporting extravaganza, after the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

According to the Maeil Business, one of South Korea’s leading financial newspapers, a nationwide survey of 1,000 people by Embrain and Korea Research last month, showed over 70 percent of the respondents were in favor of Seoul hosting the 2036 Games.

Oil-rich Qatar is also reported to be preparing its bid to host the 2036 Games. Qatar is said to be going all out to win the hosting rights — despite failed bids for the 2016, 2020 and 2032 Summer Olympics.

Its neighbor, Saudi Arabia, which will host the 2034 Asian Games and 2034 men’s FIFA soccer World Cup, is also reportedly looking to bid for the Games.

In Paris, Turkiye’s Istanbul also promoted its 2036 Olympic bid, vying to become the first country in the Middle East to host the Games.

“I mostly focus on what the IOC expects, what they dream of, what the world wants to see,” Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu told The Associated Press. “Personally, I’m not really interested to know what city is the competitor.”

Hard work ahead

However, experts in India and Indonesia warned the bidding governments they should not be too hasty in wanting to host the Olympics.

India needs to overhaul the nation’s entire sports infrastructure, said Carvalho, the former hockey player.

While the government is spending a substantial amount of money to improve sports infrastructure throughout the country, India should be looking to match the infrastructure of developed countries, he added.

Bose, who covered this year’s Games, said there were about 70 Indian Olympic debutants in Paris. Building on this foundation of sporting talent is just as important as hosting the Games, the reporter said.

“What’s important is to track their development and coach them as true assets who can win an Olympic medal. Hosting the Olympics can wait,” Bose said.

Eko Noer Kristiyanto, a sports law expert at the Center for Research and Development of the National Legal System in Indonesia, said the government should be seriously considering why it wants to host the 2036 Olympics.

He said Indonesia is not like developed countries, which already have advanced infrastructure. “The 2036 Olympics is only 12 years from now,” he said. “How can Indonesia prepare adequate infrastructure for that event?”

According to him, the private sector needs to take part in the preparation work if Indonesia wants to host the Games. “The better way is (that) Indonesia joins with another country to host the Olympics,” he added.

Permadi, from the Indonesian Badminton Association, said government support was important to prepare properly for the Olympics — not only in terms of infrastructure, but also in the development of high-quality athletes.

Indonesia’s “image would be seriously tarnished” if the nation is not well-prepared to host the Olympics, he added.

Leonardus Jegho in Jakarta and Arunava Das in Kolkata contributed to this story.