At the Paris Olympics, cities and countries were discreetly making their case to host in 2036

In Paris, interested parties discreetly made their case for hosting the Olympics in a process run by the IOC that is now more discreet, less obviously a campaign and which critics say is too opaque.

A general view inside the stadium as athletes participate in the parade during the Closing Ceremony of the Paris Games 2024 at Stade de France | Photo Credit: Getty Images

If historic waterway settings are the new must-have accessory for Olympic host cities, then Istanbul’s mayor wants the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to know his city has one.

If the key to getting the 2036 Summer Games is having hosted world championships in top-tier Olympic sports, then Qatar can point to its track record over the past decade.

If winning over the IOC is about ambition, finance and relationship-building, then India’s project backed by the Ambani family and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is well placed.

Saudi Arabia is following a similar path and in Paris sealed an Esports Olympic Games hosting deal with the IOC for 12 years, beyond the next Summer Games that is available to be awarded.

If the 2036 Olympics must go to Asia — a logical option to follow Paris, Los Angeles in 2028 and Brisbane in 2032 — then Indonesia will push its case as a fast-emerging economy of 280 million people.

In Paris, interested parties discreetly made their case for hosting the Olympics in a process run by the IOC that is now more discreet, less obviously a campaign and which critics say is too opaque. It can end with a winner far quicker than the old way of holding a multi-candidate vote seven years before the Games open. Brisbane outpaced Qatar to get the 2032 award 11 years in advance.

If just one thing is clear, the 2036 Olympics host will be known long before 2029 and strongly shaped by the high bar Paris Olympics has set.

“I mostly focus on what the IOC expects, what they dream of, what the world wants to see,” Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu told The Associated Press in an interview in Paris. “Personally, I’m not really interested to know what city is the competitor.”

The IOC has said it has a “double-digit” number of cities or countries in talks, maybe informal at this stage, about their interest in hosting a future Summer Games which can be later than 2036.

Still, those that hosted hospitality houses in Paris over the past two weeks were showing clear intent.

At the opening of India House on July 27, IOC member Nita Ambani said hosting an Olympics was “a dream that belongs to 1.4 billion Indians.”

The Ambani family, India’s richest and owners of the Reliance Industries conglomerate, now has a global reputation for lavish hosting. Celebrations over several months for their son Anant’s wedding in Mumbai drew world leaders, A-list performers and several IOC members who ultimately vote to confirm Games hosts.

Qatar did not have a public hospitality venue, though the ruling Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, was in Paris for meetings of the IOC of which he has been a member since 2002, and the opening ceremony.

Istanbul House opened in the final week of the Paris Olympics, reminding visitors the city will host the 2027 European Games, a kind of audition project.

“You are also competing with the past experiences of Olympic Games,” İmamoğlu said in translated comments. “You need to do better than what has been done in the past.”

What Paris has done is show an IOC focused on sustainability that the Olympics can be staged without building white elephant venues that stand long after the closing ceremony as a reminder of wasted taxpayer costs.

Los Angeles in 2028 will go further using only already existing or temporary venues. This goal is met by taking two sports that could not be staged locally — softball and canoe slalom — about 1,300 miles (2,000 kilometers) east to Oklahoma City.

Indonesia hopes to impress Olympic evaluators by having hosted the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang. The Asian Games has more sports and athletes than the Olympics, and Saudi Arabia does not host it until 2034, in Riyadh. Qatar did in 2006 in Doha and will again in 2030.

“Indonesia has the infrastructure, the ambition and the willingness to do it,” Indonesia’s team leader at the Paris Olympics, Anindya Bakrie, said.

When Indonesia would not host Israel games at the Under-20 World Cup in men’s soccer last year, FIFA moved the tournament from the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation just weeks before it opened.

“By saying that we want to bid for 2036, it also means that we know that we have to deal with the issue. If we do it right,” Bakrie said, “we have enough time to educate the public.”

And if Istanbul is to win — in 2036 or 2040 — why not another athlete parade at an opening ceremony by the Bosphorus strait that connects Europe and Asia?

“If you have the scenario, the right choreography, it can be very formidable,” İmamoğlu said. “You can dream of having 500,000 people watching the inauguration in such a setting.”