The Olympic flame is lit in Athens, then carried to the host city. Multiple destinations, indicating their interest, are doing everything from heavy-duty lobbying to simply floating the idea. Photo © Vasilis Ververidis | Dreamstime.com
Halfway into 2024, potential host cities for the 2036 and 2040 Summer Olympics are beginning to emerge. No fewer than four countries have confirmed bids for 2036, with leaders in at least three others talking about 2040.
Here’s a quick rundown of 2036 possibilities:
• Chile: Capital city Santiago will host the 2027 Special Olympics World Games, marking the first time in the event’s 55 years that it will take place in the Southern Hemisphere, and the city also hosted the 2023 Pan American Games. So it makes sense for officials to make a play for the 2036 Olympics. “The Paris 2024 Games showed that natural environments can serve as stunning backdrops for sport, and Chile has many cities and landscapes capable of hosting Olympic events,” Chile’s Minister of Sport Jaime Pizarro told InsideTheGames.biz last year.
• India: “Sources confirmed that over 30 sports would be played across 14 venues situated in Gujarat’s capital city of Gandhinagar and the state’s largest city of Ahmedabad, which is located 25 km to the south of the capital,” according to InsideTheGames.biz. “An Olympic Village has been slated for development near the Sardar Patel Sports Enclave in Motera in the north of Ahmedabad, making it well-situated between the two cities. The remaining 20% of events are said to then be planned across four other states.” The Indian government reportedly plans to present a comprehensive hosting proposal to the International Olympic Committee later this year.
• Indonesia: Officials want to make Indonesia the first Southeast Asian country to host the Olympics, and they’re also set on landing the 2030 Youth Olympics, according to The Jakarta Globe. The country “does not need to build additional infrastructure, as it already has sufficient facilities from hosting the 2018 Asian Games and the 2018 Asian Para Games. The landmark Gelora Bung Karno and the Jakarta International Stadium are also available,” according to the newspaper.
• Turkey: Istanbul is taking a fifth shot at hosting — with officials hoping that the city’s increasingly long list of major events hosted will finally propel it to Olympic status, Reuters reports. The city has welcomed Formula One races and two Champions League finals and will host the 2027 European Games and co-host with Italy the 2032 European Championships in soccer.
Other potential cities and countries that could introduce bids for the 2036 Games include Qatar, Saudi Arabia and South Korea, according to Reuters. Other sources indicate Canada, Denmark, Egypt, Germany, Hungary and South Africa also have expressed interest in hosting. But, as with cities previously gung-ho about welcoming the world’s largest sporting event, many have a tendency to drop out of the running early in the process — if they even make an official bid at all.
As for 2040, Reuters reported in late April that “London Mayor Sadiq Khan wants the city to bid to host the 2040 Olympics as part of an ambitious plan to make London the world’s foremost sporting capital. The mayor’s office [recently published a report] that says the staging of six events last year, including the Champions League final at Wembley and the London Diamond League meet, generated 230 million pounds ($306.84 million) and attracted almost 500,000 sports fans to the city.”
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz also has committed to supporting an Olympic bid in 2040, according to Politico. That country last hosted in 1972, in Munich. The website also notes that Madrid officials are “working on” a bid for Spain’s capital city.
The More Immediate Future
All that said, this much is certain: Los Angeles will host the 2028 Summer Games, followed by Brisbane, Australia, in 2034. Meanwhile, Milan Cortina d’Ampezzo will be home to next year’s Winter Olympics, with the French Alps hosting in 2030. Salt Lake City will host the 2034 Winter Games for the second this century (2002), and it will be the fifth time the United States has hosted the Winter Olympics (1932, 1960 and 1980).
Speaking of hosting the Games multiple times: SecretLosAngeles.com notes that L.A. will become “the only city without capital status to host the Olympics three times.” (Capital cities, like Paris and London, however, have hosted thrice.) The website states that LA’s “mix of existing and planned sports venues, housing and transit infrastructure” will be key ingredients to a successful Games — as well as officials’ “valuable know-how in managing massive global events.” Los Angeles previously hosted Summer Olympics in 1932 and 1984.
That said, while several neighboring cities will assist L.A. by hosting events such as surfing (San Clemente) and indoor volleyball (Anaheim), two Olympic sports will take place 1,300 miles to the east — where Oklahoma City will welcome canoe slalom and softball.
“This is really happening,” Mayor David Holt proclaimed at a news conference in March. “The Olympics are coming to OKC.” LA28 officials approved the venues, indicating that it would have cost millions of dollars to build new facilities comparable to ones that already exist in Oklahoma City.
Riversport Rapids, referred to as the only whitewater venue west of the Mississippi River, will host canoe races while Devon Park, home of the annual Softball World Series, will host softball games.
As the Oklahoma City Free Press reports:
Unlike other host cities in the past that had to build out venues, Oklahoma City already has the two venues that not only have been in full use for years but have benefitted from that experience and have received regular improvements over time.
Riversport leadership said that they have continued to make modifications and improvements to their whitewater facilities and have improvements scheduled to be made before 2028.
And Devon Park in just the past several years has had significant and heavy improvements to the park, adding a significant amount of seating as well as amenities for visiting teams and the news media.
“In the last 100 years, only two American cities have hosted, Los Angeles and Atlanta. So to have this opportunity is obviously something that we never really imagined, because we’re very proud of our city, but we know kind of where we fit in the hierarchy of cities, and to have two full sports … is something very unique,” Holt said.
“[I]t will always be part of Oklahoma City’s identity, that we were a part of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, and that for 17 days we were hosting events here that … hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people came to Oklahoma City and were exposed to Oklahoma City. Who knows what all that will lead to? I just think it’s the kind of thing we’re going to be talking about for decades.”
Related Organizations
About the Author
