India enters race for 2036 Olympic Games
The Indian Olympic Association made the formal submission last month to IOC’s Future Hosts Commission which oversees interest in future Games
India has formally entered the race to become the host nation for the 2036 Olympics, submitting an “expression of interest” to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to hold sport’s biggest global event 12 years from now.
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) made the formal submission last month to IOC’s Future Hosts Commission (FHC), which oversees interest in future Games, according to multiple officials aware of the matter.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games in India in 2036 has taken a significant step forward. The Indian Olympic Association has formally sent a Letter of Intent to the Future Host Commission, International Olympic Committee on 1st October 2024 expressing India’s interest to host the Olympics and Paralympics Games in 2036,” a senior official in the Union sports ministry said on Tuesday.
“This monumental opportunity could bring substantial benefits, fostering economic growth, social progress and youth empowerment across the country,” the official added.
To be sure, this is just the beginning of a long process involving deliberations at several stages between FHC and IOA before IOC awards the hosting rights, and will pit India against several other countries that have either already entered the fray or are likely to throw their hat in the ring for the 2036 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
India has not named any host city, as the process requires such details to be mentioned at a later stage. But the twin cities of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar are among the places tipped to be put forward as candidates.
Indonesia, Turkey and Chile have already submitted their official letters of intent to host the 2036 Games, while Saudi Arabia, Qatar, South Korea, Egypt, Hungary, Denmark and Canada have expressed interest.
India’s ambition has been clear for a while now. Prime Minister Narendra Modi first spoke about the country’s push to host the Olympics at the IOC Session in Mumbai in October last year. “India will leave no stone unturned in its efforts to organise the Olympics in India in 2036. It has been an age-old dream and aspiration of 140 crore that India gets to host the Olympics. Before the 2036 Olympics, India also wants to organise the 2029 Youth Olympics,” Modi said at the time in his speech in the presence of IOC president Thomas Bach.
IOA, led by its president and track legend PT Usha, later opened the dialogue process with FHC.
“During the IOC Session in Mumbai last year our Hon Prime Minister Sri Narendra Modi ji put forth his vision of India hosting the Olympics and Paralympics in 2036. Since then, we have maintained regular communication with IOC President Thomas Bach and officials of Future Host Commission,” Usha said in a video message on Tuesday.
“We had also engaged in productive discussion with IOC during the Paris Olympics. Our officials attended the executive programme and the observers programme organised by the IOC during the Paris Olympic Games. These interactions and learning led to the submission of our Letter of Intent to host the 2036 Olympic Games in India in early October this year... Despite some internal challenges in the IOA, our commitment to hosting the 2036 Summer Games remain steadfast. The IOA remains in continuous contact with the IOC and I am optimistic that India will be viewed as a gracious host,” she added.
IOA observers also attended an IOC programme in Paris to gain knowledge about how the Olympics are run, and the body’s CEO Raghuram Iyer joined in another programme at the time to go deeper into the preparation stages. “These are the steps we are taking towards preparing ourselves to put forward a formal bid which will take a year or so,” said an IOA official.
Though the immediate priority of IOA is to form a Bid Committee comprising representatives of IOA, the government and other stakeholders, the process has been slowed down due to an infighting within IOA because CEO Iyer’s appointment is yet to be ratified by the executive board amid internal wrangling.
Usha, who staunchly backs Iyer, recently said that the CEO is vital to the entire process. “This is one of the reasons why a CEO is important because he has to lead the dialogue (with FHC). We are doing whatever possible to see that there are continuous talks with FHC,” she told the media in October.
IOA and FHC will now be engaged in a “continuous dialogue”, which will involve informal and “non-committal” discussions between IOC and the countries that are interested in hosting the Games, according to the IOC website. At this stage, IOC will provide technical support to assess the feasibility of the projects based on the specific needs and long-term development plans. A potential host nation can explore and improve its Olympic projects without having to commit to a specific year or edition of the Games.
Based on FHC’s recommendations, the IOC executive board can then enter into the “targeted dialogue” phase with one or more potential host nations. This means exploring proposals to host a specific edition of the Games. FHC will eventually conduct an in-depth assessment of the “preferred hosts”, including a ground visit, and submit a report to the IOC executive board. The targeted dialogue phase usually takes about 12 months.
Based on the report, the IOC EB may put forward a shortlist of candidates at the IOC Session to select the host.
The final announcement, IOA officials say, is expected in 2026 at the earliest, which would give the hosts around 10 years to prepare.
Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028 were confirmed as hosts by IOC in September 2017, and Brisbane 2032 in 2021. Paris had less time to prepare but utilised most of its existing infrastructure and built a few temporary venues. Paris built only two new stadiums for the Games. This was in keeping with IOC’s policy on staging “sustainable Olympics”, by utilising existing facilities to cut down on the massive costs involved in creating new infrastructure and reduce carbon footprint.
“The earlier IOC model of hosting the Games after building new stadiums, etc no longer exists. According to the new IOC model for future Olympic hosts, it is expected that the hosts don’t put money in creating new infrastructure and utilise available resources while enhancing certain existing infrastructure, if required. They are also okay if Games are held in two or three clusters,” said an official who asked not to be named.