Regions involved in the heated race to host the 2036 Olympic Games might get some more time to strategize after newly elected International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Kirsty Coventry asked her teams to take a step back.
“There was overwhelming support from the IOC members for a pause to be done and a review of the future host election process and we will be setting up a working group to look into this,” Coventry told reporters at her first press conference Thursday following an Executive Board meeting and a day-and-half “pause and reflect” workshop with about 70 members at headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland this week.
“That working group will be set up in the next week or so.”
Coventry said members had two major concerns: they wanted to be more engaged in the bid process and they wanted to identify the best timing for awarding the events.
In 2019, then IOC president Thomas Bach implemented bid reforms that shifted most of the decision making to a hand-picked Future Host Commission and the Executive Board – leaving the general membership without a vote and out of the process that is now carried out behind the curtains. Previously awarded about seven years ahead of the opening ceremony, new rules excluded fixed schedules and instead Executives can allocate the Games whenever they believe the right opportunity exists.
Bach replaced the old process where multiple cities battled it out in a final high-stakes election, and he said candidature costs were too high and there were “too many losers.”
Coventry said Thursday “the members were in agreement that the way we used to do things is not where we want to go.”
The new process resulted in the IOC’s controversial 2021 decision to award Brisbane the 2032 Games uncontested in what was a blindside to other nations vying to host in a race that was thought to be in the early stages.
Los Angeles had been previously awarded the 2028 Games 11 years in advance as part of a double allocation with Paris 2024. Last year French Alps was given the 2030 Winter Games with only a six-year lead time.
Coventry alluded that lead times that are too long could be burdensome to hosts, but shorter times to prepare might be unmanageable. She said the working group will liaise with current organizing committees and interested future hosts to optimize a strategy.
How this will all pan out remains unclear.
While Coventry underlined the importance for IOC members to be included and educated in the process, she stopped short of suggesting that they would once again be able to vote for their favorite host.
When asked by GamesBids.com how open she was to change, the president said “there’s been very many steps taken to get the process to where it is, very good steps, but it’s really ‘how do we now include the members so that they can also be educated on those steps taken?'”
“If you’re not sitting on the Future Host Commission, you’re obviously not getting as much information and it’s such an important part of what we do and members get asked a lot in their own home countries, ‘what’s happening?’, ‘where is it going?’, that they want to better educate themselves.”
Several regions are lining up to bid for 2036 and 2040 including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, India, Hungary, Nusantara in Indonesia, Santiago in Chile, South Africa, Egypt and North Jeolla, South Korea. European bids could come from Germany, Istanbul, Budapest, Barcelona or Madrid.
India has been considered one of the lead contenders in the race due to its key political and financial connections with the IOC, and for being the world’s most populous nation without hosting. A high-level delegation had been scheduled to travel to meet the IOC in Lausanne next week and Coventry confirmed that the visit will continue as planned despite the pause, suggesting that it will be an opportunity to receive important feedback.
But the president pushed back on any thoughts that India has an advantage in the race explaining “The global South, as far as host cities, is not represented at all [but] my job is to ensure that the policies are in place to allow for anyone and everyone to have the ability to host the Games.”
Possible process changes could impact Switzerland’s bid to host the 2038 Winter Games after the nation entered ‘privileged dialogue’ with the IOC last year. An exclusive window was given until the end of 2027 allowing Swiss officials to secure complex government approvals and pass necessary referendums to host the Games which could be awarded if successful.
“There’s not going to be any specific opportunities that might outweigh one or the other, but everyone’s going to have a chance to be a part of this review,” Coventry told GamesBids.com before referring to IOC Executive Director Christophe Dubi for clarification.
He said “That work [privileged dialogue] continues, and all the further developments will then have to be factored in when it comes to finalizing this part.”
The Winter Games have already been awarded until 2034 when Salt Lake City is set to host its second edition.
