Several countries and cities, including Indonesia, India, Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, are already interested in bidding for the 2036 Olympics.
Egypt will bid to host the 2036 and 2040 Summer Olympics, with the country’s improving infrastructure and sports facilities key to a successful African bid, said the head of the African National Olympic Committee Association (ANOCA) yesterday, according to the “sport star” website.
The continent has never staged an Olympic Games. Cairo last made an unsuccessful bid for the 2008 Olympics.
Egypt is the most populous country in the Arab world. In recent years, it has spent billions of dollars building facilities, stadiums, and sports complexes as part of its modernization plans.
The Egypt International Olympic City complex in the new administrative capital the country has been building east of Cairo since 2015 is expected to have a 93,900-capacity national stadium and 21 other sports facilities.
“Egypt will bid for 2036 and 2040,” Mustapha Berraf, head of ANOCA, told a press conference on the day of the closing ceremony of the Paris Olympics.
The Algerian sports administrator said another African bid could potentially materialize with South Africa’s Cape Town considering an Olympic candidacy. He did not say for which Games it would bid, though.
“Africa has the chance to organize the Games. It will most likely organize the Games in 2040,” said Berraf, an International Olympic Committee member.
“There is a need to look at infrastructure issues such as roads and airports. Egypt has important infrastructure potential.”
