India, Qatar Among 7 Bidders Who Want To Host 2036 Olympics

India are aiming to host the 2036 Olympics in Ahmedabad.© AFP

India's Olympic dreams have got another stamp of approval. The ambitions of India and Qatar to host the 2036 Olympics were confirmed on Tuesday by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The two countries are among seven bidders in the race. India and Qatar have long been seen as favoured candidates in a hosting contest that the IOC aims to decide in 2029 through a contested vote of its 100-plus members. The IOC said South Africa, South Korea, Germany, Hungary and Turkey are also in talks about a future hosting option, with the 2040 and even 2044 editions also in view.

"But wherever the Games take place, one thing must never change: Athletes have to be at the heart of everything we do," said IOC President Kirsty Coventry, a two-time Olympic swimming gold medallist.

The IOC set an October 31 deadline for other national Olympic bodies to join the 2036 contest. It also published a 30-page document on Tuesday to guide bidders.

India's bid plan centres on the city of Ahmedabad, which will host the multi-sport Commonwealth Games in 2030 and is home to the world's largest cricket stadium, the Narendra Modi Stadium.

Who Are The Other Bidders

Qatar has hosted world championships in most top-tier Olympic sports, including the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Its bid could yet expand beyond Doha, with some events potentially being staged in neighbouring Gulf countries.

A Qatar-hosted Olympics would likely require the Summer Games to move from the July-August slot it has occupied at every edition from Athens 2004 through Brisbane 2032.

A South Korean bid would be anchored in Seoul, which hosted the 1988 Summer Olympics, and spread across the country.

German Olympic officials last month picked Munich, which previously hosted the Games in 1972.

South Africa's bid is shaping up to be a national project centred on Cape Town and would make it the first African host of the Summer Olympics since the modern Games were created in 1896.

Hungary and Turkey have proposed Budapest and Istanbul, respectively.

Target 2029

The key date is in March, the IOC said, when the Coventry-chaired Executive Board will approve a shortlist of candidates to develop detailed projects. The 2029 target date for a contested vote marks a return to the IOC's long-standing process of selecting Summer Olympics hosts.

It is also later than seemed likely last year when Coventry was elected, and both India and Qatar appeared poised to push for a quick decision. They, along with other national Olympic officials, promoted their bid plans in Paris during the 2024 Olympics.

Coventry's first major decision after taking office in June 2025 was to pause the fast-track process, a more secretive system that allowed Brisbane to be picked as the 2032 host fully 11 years in advance and without a contested vote.

IOC members stressed to Coventry that they wanted to be more involved in the selection process than they were under her predecessor, Thomas Bach, and to have a choice of multiple candidates on the ballot instead of simply confirming the Executive Board's preferred candidate.

The invited group in the exclusive IOC membership club includes sports officials, current and retired athletes, members of royal families, politicians including former heads of state, business leaders and Oscar-winning actress Michelle Yeoh.

With AP inputs 

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