Qatar could rewrite the Olympic calendar too All bids for the 2036 Olympics have now been submitted
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has confirmed that India and Qatar have formally submitted their bids to host the 2036 Olympics. The two countries are competing against five other nations, but according to Associated Press, they are the favourites to host the Summer Games after Los Angeles in 2028 and Brisbane in 2032. The deadline for submitting bids is 31 October, while the IOC is expected to make its decision in 2029. Alongside Qatar and India, South Africa, South Korea, Germany, Hungary and Turkey have also entered the race.
Why Qatar could change the Olympic calendar
On paper, Qatar's bid is the one that could create the biggest complications, not so much in terms of organisation, but because of the habits of fans who every four years sit on the sofa to watch as many sports as possible. This is because, regardless of which cities are ultimately involved, if the IOC awards the 2036 Games to Qatar, we will have to get used to a new slot in the sporting calendar. From Athens 2004 to the present day, the Summer Olympics have always taken place between July and August. The same will be true of Los Angeles 2028 and Brisbane 2032. Bringing the Olympic Games to the Middle East in 2036, however, would require a change to the calendar, much like what happened with the 2022 FIFA World Cup, when FIFA moved the tournament from its traditional June-July window to December to avoid the extremely high temperatures recorded in Qatar during the summer.
The 2022 World Cup model appears to be at the heart of Qatar's Olympic bid, with Doha as its hub and the possibility of distributing some events across other cities, or even neighbouring countries. If the calendar could prove to be an issue, Qatar can point to its recent track record as a major sporting host. Alongside Formula 1 and MotoGP, the country has hosted World Championships in some of the world's biggest sports: in addition to the aforementioned 2022 football World Cup, it will host the FIBA Basketball World Cup in 2027, while in 2019 it hosted the World Athletics Championships. The latter could provide a useful precedent when it comes to scheduling: the event was held from 27 September to 6 October, a timeframe that could allow Qatar to host a Summer Olympics without having to move the Games into the winter.
India's bid is centred around Ahmedabad
India's bid has been in the making for some time and is part of a wider plan developed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to equip the country with state-of-the-art infrastructure by 2047. The last major event hosted by New Delhi was the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the multi-sport event that brings together the best athletes from Commonwealth nations. The Commonwealth Games will be a crucial organisational test for India's Olympic bid, as the country is set to host the event again in 2030.
At the moment, however, there are no concrete details surrounding India's bid to host the 2036 Olympics. According to Associated Press, the entire project is expected to revolve around the city of Ahmedabad, with the possibility of moving some sports to other parts of the country by adopting the distributed Olympics model, the same approach that allowed the Winter Games to be staged across Milan and Cortina in 2026.
As mentioned, five other nations are also in the running to host the 2036 Summer Games. South Africa's plan to become the first African country ever to host the Olympics revolves around Cape Town. South Korea, meanwhile, would adopt the distributed Olympics model, with Seoul as its headline city, just as it did in 1988. Germany is proposing Munich, while Hungary and Turkey have centred their respective bids on Budapest and Istanbul.
