2023-09-04 18:30:11
A little over a month before the next Session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) expected in Bombay (India), the President of the institution evoked the prospect of an Indian candidacy for the organization of the Summer Games of 2036. A way to encourage the sporting ambition of the most populous country on the planet.
Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee, and Shereen Bhan, journalist and presenter on CNBC-TV18, Sunday September 3, 2023 (Credits – CNBC-TV18)
After the uncertainties linked to the fiasco of the 2010 Commonwealth Games which had not left an excellent memory for the Olympic Movement, not to mention the controversies relating to the attitude of the Indian authorities towards the participation of Pakistani athletes, but still following the tensions that may have arisen between India and the IOC, the time for renewal may have arrived.
In fact, by hosting the next IOC Session, between October 15 and 17, 2023, India intends to take advantage of a major forum to affirm an ambition that has been regularly discussed in recent years but never formalized, namely the filing of an Olympic and Paralympic bid.
A time envisaged for the deadline of 2024, the unpreparedness of the country – then shared by the institution of Lausanne (Switzerland) – had finally postponed the development of a possible project. However, for more than two years, Ahmedabad and the State of Gujarat have been working to build a concept likely to win the support of the sports world and Olympic decision-makers.
In this regard, a Master Plan is currently being studied, under the supervision of the regional authorities who recently commissioned the world-renowned architectural firm, Populous.
Certain preliminary elements of this Plan have moreover been set out in recent weeks, among which, by integrating the expected mobilization of the Narendra Modi Stadium and the future multi-sports complex to be laid out over 95 hectares around the 110,000-seat enclosure, the planned competition for more than thirty sites across Gujarat.
View of Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, Gujarat State, India (Credits – Indian Premier League)
Also, looking carefully at the emergence of candidatures around the world – particularly in the light of the reforms initiated to facilitate procedures and increase dialogue between the parties – the IOC President allowed himself a comment during an interview for CNBC-TV18.
Without taking a position – a duty of reserve obliges – Thomas Bach nevertheless noted a certain evolution in the now joint approach of the sports and political authorities of the country.
As he asserted:
We sometimes had discussions and there were different indications from the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and from the central government. […]
India, let it be said, is beginning to thrive within the sports movement – moving beyond more traditional sports and increasingly embracing Olympic sports. This is a very welcome initiative from India.
The President of the IOC especially took advantage of his speech to express his encouragement towards an Indian candidacy, with a view to being able to count on an additional competitor among the declared or supposed contenders.
As Thomas Bach put it:
It depends on India. Here, our doors and our hearts are wide open.
Yes, there are strong arguments for the reasons I give, seeing how India is prospering and developing and how India is now embracing Olympic sports. So there is great potential.
India can play a much bigger role in the Olympic Movement.
Of course, this statement can not predict the future of the project, and even less of a race for the 2036 Olympics, the result of which should not occur before the end of the current second and final mandate of Thomas Bach at the head of the IOC.
Nevertheless, the intention is likely to materialize an ambition which should gradually unfold in the eyes of the world, one of the first challenges to be met being in any case that of the good behavior and the springboard offered by the organization in India of the next Session of the Olympic institution.
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