CHENNAI: Days after new International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Kirsty Coventry took charge, an Indian delegation is set to reach Lausanne for a meeting to discuss its 2036 Olympics bid. The new IOC president said as much during a webinar after two days of Pause and Reflect meeting of the Executive Board that ended on Thursday. "I am aware that an Indian delegation will be here next week for a meeting," she told the media on Thursday.
However, as for selecting the hosts, Coventry said the process would be re-evaluated. It was earlier believed that the 2036 Olympic host would be announced next year but it might take time. She said that after discussing with the IOC members, she felt that some kind of reassessment is required and paused the bidding process for the time being. This will affect all those host nations trying to secure the 2036 Games. As of now there are about eight to 10 bids including those by Indonesia, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Interestingly, the Brisbane Olympic Games was announced in 2021, on the sidelines of the Tokyo Games. This was the first host city under the new flexible approach for electing a host city through consultations and dialogues. This also encouraged using existing venues and making the Games and the bid more cost-effective and sustainable. On the other hand, the French Alps 2030 announcement was delayed until July 2024.
Coventry, on the upcoming visit of the Indian delegation, said: “They might be the first interested party for us to ask a couple of questions and to better understand from them. There won't be a specific pause on that but just on the entire process.”
She felt the need to ensure that there is more membership engagement and also look at the timing: “When is the most appropriate time, when is the best time, when is the most effective time,” she said. A working group is set to be formed to look into this. The bid is now expected to run for another two-three years.
The India delegation or coordination committee for the 2036 Olympic Games will meet the staff of the Future Host Commission around July 1. Interestingly, though there is no official confirmation (with the IOC) about the host city, going by the developments, Ahmedabad is set to be announced soon.
The coordination committee has representatives from the Gujarat government. It is learnt that Gujarat state sports minister along with his principal secretary are part of the delegation. The Ahmedabad Municipal commissioner and the Gujarat's urban development ministry principal secretary too are among the members. From the Union sports ministry’s side, newly-appointed secretary sports, Hari Ranjan Rao, will attend the meeting. IOA president PT Usha, Chief Executive Officer Raghuram Iyer and office executive too will be travelling to Lausanne. The IOC had earlier said that all communications have to come through the IOA.
However, things are not going well within the IOA. The IOA’s majority of the executive council members are yet to reconcile with the IOA president after they revolted over the appointment of the CEO in January last year. Since then, there has been very little interaction between Usha and the majority of the EC members. Because of this, there has been no official announcement of a bid committee which is considered essential for the bidding process. The IOC had earlier insisted that a strong National Olympic Committee is a must for a strong bid.
The Letter of Intent was submitted without a host city name in October. With this India had entered the next phase, that of continuous dialogue. This means, according to IOC’s 'The Approach to Olympic Hosts Election', “it is a non-edition specific discussion; no commitment of either side; no obligation for the IOC to invite any Interested Parties to Targeted Dialogues”.
The IOC had earlier told this daily that as of now, there are “interested parties from four continents discussing with the IOC in an informal and non-committal way about hosting a future edition of the Olympic Games.”
