South Africa says it will bid to host the 2020 Summer Olympic Games. South Africa’s governing Olympic body, SASOC, announced Tuesday it will “formally oversee a bid for the 2020 Games” and encouraged potential host cities to “state their intention of being involved in the process”.
The announcement was made by the chief executive officer of SASCOC, Tubby Reddy.
No African city has staged the Olympic Games, but President Jacob Zuma has publicly declared the World Cup a success and expressed confidence that South Africa could do a similarly excellent job in 2020.
Following the president’s endorsement the SASCOC board met Tuesday to discuss the possibility of a 2020 bid. Reddy said, “I can confirm that in light of President Zuma’s comments we met today. We have decided that the way forward would be to engage government and key stakeholders on the way forward, but our intention is to provide a world-class city capable of hosting Africa’s first Olympic Games in 2020”.
He added that any city that wanted to be involved in the bidding process would need to contact him directly and he would provide them with the procedure as to what is required to bid for the Games.
South Africa lost the 2004 Olympics when the Games were awarded to Athens.