JOHANNESBURG (Kashmir English): South Africa has plans to bid for the 2036 or 2040 Olympic and Paralympic Games, aiming to bring one of the world’s biggest sporting events to the continent for the first time.
South Africa was the first on the continent to host the football World Cup in 2010. “South Africa initiates its intention to bid for the 2036 and 2040 Olympic Games,” minister in the presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said in a press briefing.
She told media that Pretoria had entered into “continuous dialogue with the International Olympic Committee”, headed since June by Zimbabwean Kirsty Coventry.
It is as a “preliminary and exploratory engagement that is critical to advance South Africa’s intention to bid for the hosting rights of the Olympic and Paralympic Games,” Ntshavheni said, without specifying the potential host city.
2004 Olympic Games
South African city Cape Town had bid to host the 2004 Olympic Games, which ultimately went to Athens in a 1997 vote.
Ntshavheni hoped the country wouldn’t require significant investment to improve its already available infrastructure.
“Even if we are offered the games tomorrow, cabinet is confident that we should be able to host them with our facilities,” she said.
Former International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach had, in October 2024 visit to South Africa, said the country had “the stability, the infrastructure and vision to stage an Olympics”.
Senegal’s Dakar will host the Youth Olympics from October 31 to November 14, 2026 to be the first city on the continent to hold such event.
Los Angeles will host the next Summer Olympics in 2028, and the 2032 Games have been awarded to Australia’s Brisbane.
In October, Munich voters approved a plan for a bid to host the Summer Olympics in 2036, 2040 or 2044. The German city last hosted the Olympic Games in 1972.
