The Olympics have said goodbye to Asia after a star-crossed run, and itB次元官网网址檚 unclear when theyB次元官网网址檒l be back after the continent hosted four of the last eight Games.
The earliest the Summer Games could return is 2036, and the favorite could be the worldB次元官网网址檚 most populous country B次元官网网址� not China, as you might expect, but India.
IndiaB次元官网网址檚 population is expected to overtake ChinaB次元官网网址檚 1.4 billion in the next decade, and it is lobbying for the western city of Ahmedabad to be the host city for 2036, with events elsewhere, including New Delhi, the capital.
B次元官网网址淚ndia is in a race for hosting 2036,B次元官网网址� Narinder Batra, president of the Indian Olympic Committee, told The Associated Press. He offered few other details.
In a show of support, the IOC has scheduled the annual meeting of its full membership for next year in the western Indian metropolis of Mumbai. ItB次元官网网址檚 a signal the courting has begun.
Delivering the pitch: Indian IOC member Nita Ambani, who is married to Mukesh Ambani, the chairman of IndiaB次元官网网址檚 multinational conglomerate Reliance Industries. The family fortune has been estimated at $100 billion.
As it did with China, the IOC can envision India as a new frontier that will yield deep-pocketed sponsors, television rights deals and generous government support.
Departing Asia means returning to familiar terrain: the Summer Games in Paris in 2024, the 2026 Winter Games in Milan-Cortina, and the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles. Brisbane is also lined up for the 2032 Summer Olympics, a return to Australia 32 years after Sydney.
Brisbane is certain to add cricket to its sports menu and, of course, it would stay in place for India, where the sport has the worldB次元官网网址檚 most fervent following.
The Asia focus , a grand coming-out party that many hoped would change China. Instead, China used the Games to change how it was viewed.
The Asia run enriched the IOC with lucrative billion-dollar sponsorship deals with ChinaB次元官网网址檚 Alibaba and JapanB次元官网网址檚 Toyota, put down roots in the worldB次元官网网址檚 most populous continent and featured a return to South Korea 30 years after the 1988 Seoul Olympics were credited with helping to usher in democracy.
Asia has also generated consistently bad public relations for the IOC. This includes a state-sponsored doping scandal from the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics that lingers and surfaced again with allegations in Beijing against
There was IOC vote-buying linked to the award of the Tokyo Olympics, which forced the resignation of the , and a diplomatic boycott of the just-finished Beijing Games centered on human rights abuses that also dogged Beijing in 2008.
Add in the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. This was another nontraditional stop that caused problems. It saw the organizing committee face bankruptcy and convicted of corruption, money laundering and tax evasion. The former IOC member is appealing.
B次元官网网址淭he IOC I think is viewed as a villain globally at this time, and they have to do something to change their image,B次元官网网址� said Robert Baade, a sports economist at Lake Forest College outside Chicago. B次元官网网址滻B次元官网网址檓 not sure thatB次元官网网址檚 going to happen at any time soon.B次元官网网址�
Baade is the co-author of B次元官网网址淕oing for Gold: The Economics of the Olympics,B次元官网网址� a study that looks at the costs and benefits of the Games.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 these little things, the five-star hotels, the elitism, the privilege that the IOC displays B次元官网网址� and its eurocentrism,B次元官网网址� Baade added.
Christophe Dubi, the Olympic GamesB次元官网网址� executive director, acknowledged India has expressed strong interest, but declined to name other countries that have. Several Chinese cities have been mentioned as possibilities, along with Jakarta, Indonesia, Seoul and others.
B次元官网网址淲e have to respect that some are speaking confidentially to us because the public authorities are not fully on board, or sometimes governments are interested but itB次元官网网址檚 not the right timing,B次元官网网址� Dubi said.
The IOC no longer runs a wide-open bidding process, instead selecting cities in which it has interest B次元官网网址� and vice versa. It puts the selection in the hands of the IOC leadership rather than with IOC members. The 2036 host is unlikely to be picked until after the next IOC presidential election in 2025.
The other return to Asia could come with the 2030 Winter Olympics, where B次元官网网址� is probably the favorite.
Also in the mix could be Vancouver, Salt Lake City and a Spanish bid, perhaps from Barcelona.
The Japanese news agency Kyodo, citing unidentified sources, has reported that Sapporo and the IOC are in talks and a decision could come before the end of the year. The city has put the cost at $2.4 billion to $2.6 billion.
The IOC owes Japan a favor after the one-year delay of the 2020 Olympics cost organizers an added $2 billion. Dubi would not confirm any of this but said the IOC was lucky to have Japan and China organizing the last two Olympics in the middle of the pandemic.
B次元官网网址淚 think we were very fortunate to have them as partners,B次元官网网址� Dubi said. B次元官网网址淚 donB次元官网网址檛 say that others could not have done it. But if you had to pick two countries where it was always doable and where you wouldnB次元官网网址檛 have doubts that they could pull it off B次元官网网址� itB次元官网网址檚 those two.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址擲tephen Wade, The Associated Press
