Qatar confirmed on Tuesday that they are in negotiations with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to host the 2036 Olympic Games.
“We currently have 95% of the necessary sports infrastructures (…) and we have a complete national plan for the facilities to be 100% ready,” said the chief of the Catari Olympic Committee and president of the application committee, Joaan Bin Hamad Al-Thani, in a statement.
The rich gas producing state, which has already organized the Football World Cup in 2022, could become “the first country in the Middle East and North Africa to organize the Olympic Games,” the Prime Minister Catari, the Check Mohammed Bin Abdulrahmane Al-Thani, said by the official news agency.
Since the new process of application to the Olympic Games was introduced, inaugurated by the candidacy in 2021 for the 2032 Brisbane Games – an edition for which Qatar has already shown interest – candidates are no longer required to declare themselves publicly, but to maintain long confidential discussions with the final validation of the session.
Former CoI president Thomas Bach insisted on having a “two-digit number” of candidates interested in organizing the 2036 and 2040 games, including India, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey and Hungary openly advance.
Due to the mandatory continental rotation, after editions of 2024, 2028 and 2032, respectively in Europe, North America and Oceania, the next edition has many possibilities to be in Asia unless finally the first African Olympic Games of history are held.
The designation of the host of the 2036 Games will be one of the first major subjects that the new President Kirsty Coventry will face, having assumed its duties on June 23.
