Nawal El Moutawakel, head of the International Olympic Committee’s coordinating commission for Rio 2016 who also chaired the coordinating commission for London 2012, told Reuters that Africa is unlikely to host the Olympics for at least 20 years despite the success of the soccer World Cup in South Africa.
El Moutawakel said, “there is a huge amount of work to be done besides political desire, hence the experts’ view that any realistic chance for (hosting the) Olympics in Africa is between 2030 and 2040.
“I have read studies by some universities specializing in the Olympics who gave Africa between 2030 and 2040 to host the Games and that is a very realistic chance because Olympics is a different ball game”, she said.
She added, “I know South Africa did a wonderful job with the FIFA World Cup, right from the airport, going into the Johannesburg city and suburbs in wide, smooth roads, to world class hotels and wonderful facilities in all cities.
“But soccer World Cup is one sport in nine cities, with 64 matches played by 32 countries in one month. Olympics is 26 sports in one city played by 10,500 athletes in three weeks and watched by billions around the world. Let us face it. Africa has many unique problems and other priorities to handle at the moment. So I think those studies are not off the mark”, she said.
