After Brisbane was given a big boost of confidence from the International Olympic Committee at their most recent meeting, New Delhi, India has turned its sights toward the 2048 Olympic and Paralympic Games, announcing intention to bid to host that event in 27 years.
As part of the IOC’s new sustainability initiatives, Brisbane, Australia was named the prefered host of the 2032 games much earlier in the process then was historically done. The effectively means that if Brisbane can put together a cogent plan with the final details, it will be the 2032 host.
India was one of at least 16 hosts that expressed public interest in the 2032 Games.
India’s bid was part of a long-term hosting strategy that was to include the 2026 Youth Olympic Games and 2030 Asian Games. The 2026 Youth Olympics will be in Dakar, Senegal, after the IOC pushed their hosting back from 2022. Qatar and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia were given the hosting rights to the 2030 and 2034 Asian Games.
The most recent major multi-national multi-sport event hosted in India was the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
New Delhi Finance Minister Manish Sisoda says that the country will upgrade sports facilities and general city infrastructure as part of preparations for its 2048 bid.
Narinder Batra, an IOC member and the head of the Indian Olympic Association, expressed support for the move.
“Our Government aims to bring the sports facilities and the sports atmosphere in the city to such a level through the new Sports University so that we can apply to host the 39th Olympics in 2048,” Sisodia told the Hindustand Times, referencing the planned opening of a “sports university” that will offer graduate, post-graduate, and doctoral degrees in several sports.
“This may seem far away, but we have to bid for it 10 years before 2048.
“And before that it will take 15 years to build adequate infrastructure, to create an atmosphere where sports flourishes and to bring our players to a level where they bring medals in the sports competitions leading to Olympics 2048.”
The next three cities to stage the Summer Olympics and Paralympics will be Tokyo in 2021 (the delayed 2020 Games), Paris in 2024, and Los Angeles in 2028. India has never hosted an Olympic Games.
While bidding for the 2036 Games, the next ‘wide open’ summer hosting bid, hasn’t heated up yet, UK Sport and London, hosts of the 2012 Games, are mulling another run. Those 2012 Games made London the first city to host the Olympics three times: 1908, 1948, and 2012.
German officials have ruled out a Berlin bid for the 2036 Games, wanting to avoid the optics of bidding on the 100 year anniversary of the 1936 Games that were used as a propaganda tool by Nazi Germany ahead of World War II.
