The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Wednesday announced its intention to elect the 2036 Summer Olympics host in mid-2029 at its annual Session.
A new bid process ratified by the IOC’s 146th Session now underway in Lausanne, Switzerland reincludes a timeline after 2019 reforms removed structure and cloaked the approach, alienating stakeholders including candidates and voting members.
New changes were requested by IOC president Kirsty Coventry as part of her ‘Fit For the Future’ agenda introduced after her election last year.
“All stakeholders wanted greater transparency with clearer timelines and evaluation criteria, and a more gradual progression through the dialogue stages,” IOC Future Host Commission Chair and former Croatian president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović told the Session during a presentation.
Following the Continuous Dialogue stage already in place to engage with interested bidders to explore hosting opportunities without commitment, a new Strategic Dialogue stage will be added to allow the Executive Board to shortlist a number of qualified interested parties for deeper evaluation.
Regions looking to host in 2036 now have less than a year to discuss credible plans with the IOC in order to enter Strategic Dialogue which is scheduled to launch March 2027 at the next IOC Session. During this stage, candidates will submit questionnaire responses and conduct site visits for the Future Host Commission who will develop reports for the Executive Board and IOC members.
There will be several touchpoints with members and updates along the way.
In late 2028 the Executive Board will select preferred hosts for Targeted Dialogue, a stage designed to ready candidates for election with the delivery of core guarantees and a final report. At the EB’s discretion, one or more candidates will be recommended to the Session in 2029 for possible election.
Keeping the spirit of the 2019 reforms that were put in place to eliminate losing bids that discouraged regions from coming forward in the future, the new process will instill “transparency and legacy and continuity to recognize unsuccessful finalists as strong potential candidates for future Games,” Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović said.
The IOC does not reveal those regions involved in Continuous Dialogue but will now publish details about candidates in Strategic Dialogue. Doha in Qatar, Ahmedabad in India, North Jeolla in South Korea and South Africa have announced formalized Olympic bid campaigns and that they have entered Continuous Dialogue with the IOC.
Also expressing interest in 2036, 2040 or 2044 bids include Germany, Santiago in Chile, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Istanbul in Türkiye, Budapest in Hungary and Spain – but formal discussions with the IOC have not been confirmed.
The IOC also announced Wednesday that limits will be set for the addition of new sports at a single Games by the organizing committee. Summer Games hosts will be limited to four regionally relevant sports upon approval of the IOC and Winter Games hosts will be able to select two.
Los Angeles added five sports to its 2028 program while the Alpes 2030, Brisbane 2032 and Utah 2034 programs have yet to be finalized.
