GENEVA (AP) — India and Qatar finally got clarity Tuesday on their long-standing ambitions to host the 2036 Olympic Games.
They are now in official competition with five other candidates, including one who would organize the Summer Games for the first time in Africa. The International Olympic Committee has set October 31 as the deadline for late arrivals to the competition.
India and Qatar have long been considered preferred candidates in the organizational competition that the IOC wishes to organize. decide in 2029 by a contested vote of his More than 100 members. These members include Nita Ambani of The richest family in Indiaand the Emir of QatarSheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
South Africa, South Korea, Germany, Hungary and Turkey are also candidates under an open-ended process with the IOC that also allows them to target future Summer Games in 2040 and 2044.
“But wherever the Games are held, one thing must never change: athletes must be at the heart of everything we do,” said IOC President Kirsty Coventry, a double gold medalist in swimming.
The IOC also published a 30-page document Tuesday to guide bidders over the next two and a half years, when key decisions will be made by the committee chaired by Coventry IOC Executive Board. Its 15 members include NBA great Pau Gasol representing the athletes.
Main cities of the seven candidatures
India’s bid plan focuses on the city of Ahmedabad, which will host the 2030 Commonwealth Multi-Sport Games, and has the world’s largest cricket stadium, named in honor of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Qatar has hosted the world championships in most top Olympic sports, including the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Its bid could further expand from Doha to send some events to Gulf neighbors.
A Qatar-hosted Olympics should require the Summer Games to be held later in the year, from the July-August slot they occupied in every edition, from 2004 in Athens to 2032 in Brisbane.
A South Korean bid would be anchored in Seoul, which hosted the 1988 Summer Games, and extend across the country.
German Olympic officials last month I chose Munichwhich had already hosted in 1972.
South Africa’s bid is expected to be national and centered on Cape Town, and would be the first African country to host the Summer Games since the modern Olympics were established in 1896.
Hungary and Turkey offer Budapest and Istanbul respectively.
The key date is in March, the IOC said, when the board will approve a shortlist of candidates to develop detailed plans.
2.5-year campaign to select 2,036 hosts
The 2029 target date for a contested vote is a return to the IOC’s long-standing schedule and process for choosing Summer Games hosts.
Coventry’s election also took place later than expected last year, and India and Qatar appeared set to push for a quick decision. They and other national Olympic officials have been promoting their plans to bid in Paris during the 2024 Olympics.
Coventry’s first major decision when it took office in June 2025 was to suspend the fast-tracked, and more secretive, process that saw Brisbane chosen as the city. 2032 host fully 11 years old in advance and without a contested vote.
IOC members want a choice of candidates
IOC members stressed in Coventry that they wanted to be more involved in the choice than was the case under his predecessor Thomas Bach, and to have multiple candidates to choose from on the ballot instead of simply confirming the board’s preferred choice.
The group invited to the exclusive IOC Members’ Club includes sports officials, current and retired athletes, members of royal families, politicians, including former heads of state, business leaders and Oscar-winning actress Michelle Yeoh.
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