India’s aggressive bid to stage the 2036 Olympics hit a speed bump on Thursday after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) ‘paused’ the selection process for future hosts following the meeting of its Executive Board.
The IOC’s decision came days before a high-level Indian delegation, including representatives of the Union and Gujarat governments as well as the Indian Olympic Association, was scheduled to travel to Lausanne to make a pitch for the 2036 Games. The world body’s president, Kirsty Coventry, who took charge on Monday, said the IOC’s meeting with Indian officials will go ahead as planned from June 30 to July 2.
The ongoing process to select future hosts was halted after IOC members expressed reservations about the current rules, in which they have virtually no say. Coventry said a working group will be formed to ‘review how the future hosts are selected and when’.
The IOC has 107 active members, which include royalty, Oscar winners, heads of state and industrialists. Nita Ambani, Chairperson of the Reliance Foundation, is the only IOC member from India. Approximately 70 of them were part of a meeting that decided to pause the process to choose future Games hosts.
“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 said after chairing her maiden Executive Board meeting in Lausanne. “Firstly, members want to be engaged more in the process and secondly, there was a very big discussion on when the next host will be awarded.”
Until the Tokyo Olympics, the IOC members picked a host country by voting. In 2019, the process was replaced with a Future Host Commission, which engaged in dialogues with interested nations and aimed to reduce expenses, as countries sought to outbid one another in the previous procedure.
However, the IOC members considered the selection process under the Future Host Commission opaque and inconsistent. For instance, Brisbane was named the host of the 2032 Olympics 11 years in advance. By comparison, the French Alps were given just six years’ notice for the 2030 Winter Games. The long preparation phase for Brisbane, too, has led to unique problems relating to funding and infrastructure development.
Coventry said IOC members felt the experience of already decided future hosts needed to be studied before proceeding on future proposals. “So there was a lot of discussion on when is the appropriate time to elect a future host. And also how we should be selecting a future host,” she added.
The IOC had earlier said that the number of countries interested in hosting the 2036 Summer Games was in ‘double digits’. Apart from India, Qatar, Indonesia, Turkey and Germany are some of the other countries eyeing to stage the edition.
Setting the ball rolling
Last October, IOA president PT Usha formally sent a letter — drafted in consultation with the government and with the help of international experts — to the world body declaring its ‘intent to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Bharat (India)’. The IOA highlighted the country’s religious and cultural diversity, the impact on the South Asian region and a message of peace to the ‘world at a time when it is needed the most’ as key themes in its pitch.
Following the letter, India had moved to the ‘continuous dialogue’ phase under the procedure that is now under review. The country’s officials had multiple meetings with the Future Host Commission and the visit to Lausanne next week was seen as another important step.
The eight-member Indian delegation comprises Gujarat home and sports Minister Harsh Sanghavi, PT Usha, union sports secretary Hari Ranjan Rao, principal secretary of Gujarat’s Urban Development Department Ashwini Kumar, principal secretary of Gujarat sports department M Thennarasan, Ahmedabad Municipal Commissioner Banchhanidhi Panim, IOA CEO Raghuram Iyer and Usha’s executive assistant Ajay Narang.
India has yet to officially name a host city. And while Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta recently expressed interest in hosting the Games, there is little doubt that Ahmedabad will remain central to the project, given the presence of Gujarat government officials in the Indian delegation to the IOC headquarters.
The state government is in the process of constructing two main venue clusters for the Games — the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (SVP) Sports Enclave, a 355-acre area adjacent to the Narendra Modi Stadium in Motera, and Karai Sports Hub, with a ‘site area of 143 acres, augmented by reclaimed riverfront.’
Last December, the Gujarat Sports Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited floated tenders inviting bids to appoint consultants for developing these two projects.
According to the tender document, SVP will include the Narendra Modi Stadium, a multi-purpose indoor arena, aquatics and tennis centres as permanent venues while ‘for the duration of the Games, the enclave will also feature temporary venues’ for volleyball, 3×3 basketball, sports climbing and urban sports.
Athletics will be held at Karai, where a 35,000-seater stadium will be constructed with the scope of additional temporary seating during the Games. The Karai Police Academy will house the shooting complex.
New IOC president Kirsty Coventry, who took charge on Monday, said the meeting between international Olympics officials and Indian officials will go ahead as planned from June 30 to July 2. (PHOTO: IOC/Greg Martin) 
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