Global Cities and Nations Strategically Pitch to Host the 2036 Olympics

If historic river settings are the new must-have accessory for Olympic host cities, then Istanbul's mayor wants the IOC to know his city has one. "I mostly focus on what the IOC expects, what they dream of, what the world wants to see," Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu told The Associated Press in an interview in Paris. "Personally, I'm not really interested to know what city is the competitor."

In Paris, interested parties discreetly made their case for hosting the Olympics in a process run by the IOC that is now more discreet, less obviously a campaign and which critics say is too opaque. It can end with a winner far quicker than the old way of holding a multi-candidate vote seven years before the Games open. Brisbane outpaced Qatar to get the 2032 award 11 years in advance.

Ambition and Finance

If winning over the International Olympic Committee is about ambition, finance and relationship-building, then India's project backed by the Ambani family and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is well placed. At the opening of India House on July 27, IOC member Nita Ambani said hosting an Olympics was "a dream that belongs to 1.4 billion Indians." The Ambani family, India's richest and owners of the Reliance Industries conglomerate, now has a global reputation for lavish hosting.

Celebrations over several months for their son Anant's wedding in Mumbai drew world leaders, A-list performers and several IOC members who ultimately vote to confirm Games hosts. Saudi Arabia is following a similar path and in Paris sealed an Esports Olympic Games hosting deal with the IOC for 12 years, beyond the next Summer Games that is available to be awarded.

Track Record in Hosting

If the key to getting the 2036 Summer Games is having hosted world championships in top-tier Olympic sports, then Qatar can point to its track record over the past decade. Qatar did not have a public hospitality venue, though the ruling Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, was in Paris for meetings of the IOC of which he has been a member since 2002, and the opening ceremony.

Indonesia hopes to impress Olympic evaluators by having hosted the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang. The Asian Games has more sports and athletes than the Olympics, and Saudi Arabia does not host it until 2034, in Riyadh. Qatar did in 2006 in Doha and will again in 2030.

Future Prospects

The IOC has said it has a "double-digit" number of cities or countries in talks, maybe informal at this stage, about their interest in hosting a future Summer Games which can be later than 2036. Still, those that hosted hospitality houses in Paris over the past two weeks were showing clear intent.

If just one thing is clear, the 2036 Olympics host will be known long before 2029 and strongly shaped by the high bar Paris has set. What Paris has done is show an IOC focused on sustainability that the Olympics can be staged without building white elephant venues that stand long after the closing ceremony as a reminder of wasted taxpayer costs.

Los Angeles in 2028 will go further using only already existing or temporary venues. This goal is met by taking two sports that could not be staged locally — softball and canoe slalom — about 1,300 miles (2,000 kilometers) east to Oklahoma City.

"You are also competing with the past experiences of Olympic Games," Imamoglu said in translated comments. "You need to do better than what has been done in the past." Istanbul House opened in the final week of the Paris Olympics, reminding visitors the city will host the 2027 European Games, a kind of audition project.

Indonesia's team leader at the Paris Olympics, Anindya Bakrie said: "Indonesia has the infrastructure, the ambition and the willingness to do it." When Indonesia would not host Israel games at the Under-20 World Cup in men's soccer last year, FIFA moved the tournament from Indonesia just weeks before it opened.

"By saying that we want to bid for 2036," Bakrie said, "it also means that we know that we have to deal with the issue. If we do it right," Bakrie said, "we have enough time to educate the public."

And if Istanbul is to win — in 2036 or 2040 — why not another athlete parade at an opening ceremony by the Bosphorus river that connects Europe and Asia? "If you have the scenario, the right choreography," Imamoglu said. "It can be very formidable. You can dream of having 500,000 people watching the inauguration in such a setting."