Sport

South Africa considers Olympics bid

Brad Morgan

16 July 2010

After successfully hosting the 2010 Fifa World Cup™, South Africa is considering a bid to host the Olympic Games in 2020 or 2024, says Gideon Sam, president of the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee.

Earlier this week, Sam said Sascoc would hold talks with the government and various national federations about the possibility of hosting the first Olympic Games in Africa. The recently concluded Fifa World Cup was the first to be held on African soil.

'The dream of the IOC'

He added: "It is the dream of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that developing countries are given an opportunity to host the Olympics.

"It is now up to the government, the national Olympic committee and the sporting community whether or not this country takes the decision to bid for the Games.

"The IOC has certain policies by which we will be guided if our government supports a possible bid.

"I can't say that we will be going for 2020 or 2024, but we will be guided by the sporting movement in this country as to what we are going to do."

'We are not weary'

President Jacob Zuma added his backing for an Olympic bid, saying: "For our eyes to be on 2020, we are not weary, because we have the facilities."

In the wake of Zuma's comment and after a meeting of the Sascoc board on Tuesday, Sascoc CEO Tubby Reddy commented: "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."

Interviewed on East Coast Radio's Sports Cage, Reddy added: "In our press release we've actually given that indication that if there are cities out there that have intentions then they need to approach us formally. Up to now we've heard talk that Cape Town may be interested, Durban, Johannesburg.

He continued: "Informally we've had approaches or talk from Johannesburg that has given some kind of indication, Durban, and recently we've heard comments (we haven't been approached formally) but we heard comments around Cape Town.

'Outstanding'

Both Fifa President Sepp Blatter and IOC boss Rogge termed the recent hosting of the Fifa World Cup "outstanding". Rogge also said an Olympic bid by South Africa would be welcomed.

He said the country has a history of successfully organising major sports events: "From the start, when South Africa were named as World Cup hosts, we all knew the country would be able to organise the tournament.

"This country has hosted a very successful All Africa Games (in 1999), a Rugby World Cup (in 1995) and international cricket championships (including the 2003 World Cup, the inaugural ICC Twenty20 World Cup in 2007 and the Indian Premier League in 2009). Now it is up to you as a nation to decide if you want to host this event."

Both Durban and Cape Town have been mentioned as potential hosts of the Olympic Games.

IOC General Congress host

Interestingly, Durban will host the IOC's General Congress in 2011 at which the winning bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics will be announced. It will be an excellent opportunity for local officials to forge the kind of relationships that could help a South African bid for the Olympic Games.

South Africa has bid for the Olympic Games once before. On that occasion, Cape Town lost out to Rome and eventual hosts Athens for the right to host the 2004 Games.