Qatar Joins 2032 Bid Race

(ATR) Qatar wants to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games as soon as 2032.

The small but wealthy Middle Eastern country delivered its request to join the "non-committal continuous dialogue" for hosting a future Summer Games to the IOC on Monday.

Qatar joins Australia, China, India, Indonesia and Germany in the quest for 2032. A joint Korean bid is also still a possibility as is another attempt from Madrid, Spain.

"Never before has an Olympic Games been held in the Middle East. The Olympic rings are a symbol of peace, unity and hope for people around the world, including the people of our region," Qatar Olympic Committee President Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani said in a statement.

The QOC says Agenda 2020 reforms that created a new approach to hosting future Olympic Games encouraged the country to try again.

"Today's announcement marks the beginning of a meaningful dialogue with the IOC's Future Host Commission to explore our interest further and identify how the Olympic Games can support Qatar's long-term development goals," Al-Thani said.

Qatar has failed to make the shortlist in two previous Olympic bids for the 2016 and 2020 Games. It won the right to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup in December 2010. Almost 10 years later, corruption allegations surrounding how the country secured the rights for the event remain. Qatar has denied any wrongdoing.

The country has also faced criticism for its poor human rights record towards migrant workers building the infrastructure for the World Cup. Government reforms of the kefala (sponsorship) system were announced in October 2019 but human rights organizations say the changes don’t go far enough.

The extreme summer heat in the country forced the 2022 World Cup to be moved from its traditional June-July window to November-December.

There is little doubt that the normal July-August window for the Summer Games would also need to be moved should Qatar win an Olympic bid. The best times, based on average high temperatures, would be February-March or November-December.

The temperatures in Doha, the Qatari capital, were still so high in late September and early October that the road racing events at the 2019 Athletics World Championships were scheduled for midnight.

But that wasn’t enough as a number of competitors needed medical care due to the heat.

After watching those scenes, IOC President Thomas Bach initiated the successful push to move the venue for the 2020 Olympics road racing events to the northern city of Sapporo to avoid the higher temperatures in Tokyo.

Homepage photo: SC

Written by Gerard Farek

For general comments or questions,click here.

Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.