Durban Wants to Host the Olympics: South Africa’s Candidate City for 2036 and 2040

TVS News AI, editorially supervised, presents Durban Wants to Host the Olympics: South Africa’s Candidate City for 2036 and 2040.

Durban is South Africa’s preferred candidate to host the 2036 or 2040 Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games. The east coast city was named the central bidder on Thursday by acting president of the South African Olympic Committee, Lwandile Simelane.

This makes Durban the city with which South Africa will initially approach the International Olympic Committee. The final selection has therefore not yet been made. Durban is, however, competing against Johannesburg and Cape Town, which were also considered as candidate cities.

Durban to Form the Core of the Olympic Bid

The stated goal is a “multi-city bid.” Simelane said Durban would be South Africa’s lead candidate, although the bid is expected to include events in other cities. This would mean Durban would not necessarily be the sole host city.

South Africa’s internal decision nevertheless focuses the candidacy on a clear lead city. The country was initially open to Johannesburg, South Africa’s economic hub, or Cape Town. Durban now stands at the center of the Olympic bid.

The announcement also brings a particular historic significance: South Africa has already hosted the 2010 FIFA World Cup. It was the first World Cup to take place on African soil. Durban was already discussed as a possible Olympic host city at the time. However, no official bid followed because of concerns over the costs.

The Candidacy Is Not Yet a Host Decision

The International Olympic Committee is expected to select the host city for the 2036 Olympic Games in mid-2029. South Africa is therefore preparing for a multi-year candidate phase. The information provided gives no decision date for the selection to host the Games in 2040.

South Africa’s nomination of Durban therefore does not yet mean that the city will host the Games. It means Durban will enter the international selection process as the preferred candidate. Whether and how the planned multi-city bid is structured will depend, among other things, on the costs and implementation plans submitted.

The possibilities range from hosting the entire event in Durban to a split in which competitions take place in other South African cities. This flexibility is precisely the core of the “multi-city bid” described by Simelane.

Seven Countries Compete for the 2036 Games

South Africa is one of seventeen candidate countries for the 2036 Olympic Games. In addition to South Africa, India, Qatar, South Korea, Germany, Hungary and Turkey have expressed an interest in bidding.

For the 2036 Games, 31 October was the deadline by which national Olympic committees could officially submit their bids. Durban’s nomination focuses South Africa’s own campaign on a specific city, while the international selection remains open to several other bidders.

Costs Remain the Biggest Open Question

On Thursday, those responsible could not yet provide an estimate of how much hosting the Olympic Games in South Africa would cost. This is consistent with the experience of Durban’s failed post-2010 World Cup Olympic plan: concerns over costs were a major reason no official bid was submitted at the time.

Durban therefore faces a clear decisive test. The city has assumed the political and organizational lead role in South Africa’s bid. Before hosting the Olympics, however, the costs must be clarified, the multi-city allocation must be developed, and the IOC’s approval must be secured in 2029. If Durban is selected, South Africa would become the first African host of the Olympic Summer Games.