Even though Dubai won the bid to host World Expo 2020, its ambition to host major international events is unmatchable. The city is now aiming to bid to host Olympic Games in 2024.
In an interview for Xinhua news agency, the director of Dubai Sports Council Ali Omar has shared that the emirate is considering bidding to host the Olympic Games. Moreover, he even stated that Dubai might attempt to host at least one sports event of a similar rank just to prove it is capable of handling an event of such magnitude. In addition, the media exposure and the benefits from such type of events are justifying the cost and efforts.
Back in 2013, Dubai officials announced that the city has abandoned its ambitions to welcome an Olympic Games event. The reason was that the emirate wanted to focus all of its energy and resourced towards winning its Expo 2020 bid. It seems that now, when this goals is achieved, Dubai is ready to chase a new and an even bolder one.
Which Olympics Will Dubai Host?
The winning cities for the next two Olympic Games are already selected. The 2016 Olympics will take place in Rio de Janeiro, while the 2020 Olympic Games will be hosted by Tokyo. This means that the earliest bidding which Dubai plans to submit in 2015 would be for the 2024 Olympics.
The bidding process for the 2024 Olympic Games will kick off next year and the winning city is expected to be announced in 2017. For the time being, only Berlin has showed some interest in the event.
Does It Stand a Chance?
Can Dubai really win a bid for the 2024 Olympics? According to Ali Omar, the city should have no problem achieving that. Omar is confident that the region will be placed on the Olympics map with a little push from two large events which will be held over the next few years – Expo 2020 in Dubai and the 2022 FIFA World Cup, scheduled to take place in Qatar. If both go well, Dubai would enjoy more international support to host the Olympics.
In fact, Dubai’s Olympic ambitions are already seeing some support. Last year, for example, Lord Sebastian Coe, who managed the 2012 London Olympics, stated that Dubai should not hesitate to submit a bid for the 2024 games.
In addition to that, the city has hosted an impressive list of large-scale international sports events. Among them are the ITTF World Tour Grand Finals GAC Group 2013, Dubai Duty Free Grand Prix and various other swimming, tennis, golf and diving championships.
Let’s not forget that Dubai also has built amazing and high-tech sports facilities and by has a well-developed infrastructure. The city’s key location in the Middle East is yet another advantage that could play a role in its future bidding for the Olympics.
Rehearsing
With so many advantages, Dubai certainly has a good chance of winning the bid for the 2024 Olympic Games. However, this does not mean that the city will not work hard for the victory. In his interview, Ali Omar also revealed that Dubai is considering submitting bidding for other big sports events, like the Youth Olympic Games and the Asia Games.
Dubai is not bidding to host 2024 Olympics just to prove it is capable of doing “something of this magnitude.” Oh Please, Lets get real.
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