Africa Olympics

[stryker]

The idea of an African Olympics has been discussed many times and it seems every year there's a news story about a potential bid that usually never amounts to anything. The conventional wisdom was that South Africa, particularly Durban, would be the most likely candidate to host the continent's first Olympics and hopes were optimistic after a successful FIFA World Cup that it would just be a matter of time and that the 2022 Commonwealth Games would be the last stepping stone for an Olympic bid. Of course the that all crumbled when Durban withdrew as the 2022 host following financial concerns and now an Olympics in Africa appears further away than ever. Simply put, if you can't meet the requirements for a CWGs how can you manage the costs of an Olympics?

All that being said, as far as Africa's prospects go, IMO South Africa is still the best option, however, given the hosting costs, even if those costs were reduced, I think the only way that South Africa could pull this off would be for an Olympics bid to be a nationwide concept similar to regional concept proposed by Germany in 2032. I think you could center much of the events around Durban with Moses Mahiba Stadium for athletics  and ceremonies along with King's Park and the ICC, but South Africa would have to involve other venues such as the Bellville Velodrome in Cape Town and the Ticketpro Dome in Johannesburg just to name a few. I'm sure you could also see South Africa follow the model of London and Paris and construct one or possibly two temporary arenas that could be dismantled afterwards. It's hard to see it any other way.

[Nacre]

Casablanca would be my guess if it happens anytime soon.

[Chrishigh765]

South Africa will probably bid  for 2032 with Cape Town and the nationwide concept is good in theory because they would really have to sell this to the IOC order for them to successful to finally bring the games to Africa

[thatsnotmypuppy]

You really only have four feasible options as of right now.  None will be hosting anytime soon.

Cairo.  You have the International Stadium, the Covered Hall, a huge conference centre etc. Sadly you also have an unstable system of Government, domestic terrorism and a city that could not handle the Games time infrastructure needs.

Morocco - the country has had a bit of a stadium building boom - however the subsidiary venues are lacking.  The country is also not financially in a position to host a Games.  Any concept would need to be spread among the four major cities - which while not that far apart is far from ideal.

Abuja - they have the stadium. They have an arena, they have a velodrome. They have a swimming centre. They nearly had a Commonwealth Games.  Domestic terrorism, lack of funding and a general 'WTF is an Abuja?' global attitude along with negative opinions of Nigerian human rights will keep the Games away.  

Durban.  Oh Cape Town will be nice but Durban has the stadium and subsidiary venues almost in place.  Lack of political will, organisational knowledge and little public support will take a long time to get over.  Plus the IOC will not give the Games to a city that couldn't properly get the basic Commonwealth Games organising structure in place - let alone the funding.

Anywhere else is a joke at this point.

Thus we may see a bid soon-ish - however I doubt there is any real push to head to Africa.

[Roger87]

First, we need to wait first the result of the safe bids of Tokyo-Paris-LA and then we may consider new frontiers again. Even for 2032 they may reach another safe option before and then going to africa.

[Rob2012]

15 hours ago, thatsnotmypuppy said:

'WTF is an Abuja?'

[StefanMUC]

I don‘t think that idea of the regional concept in Germany 2032 (if that ever comes to fruition!) can be a model for a country like South Africa (or elsewhere), because while that 2032 idea may involve a region with numerous independent cities and other admin divisions, it is geographically still only a very limited area and not stretching to different corners of the country.

As for Africa in general, I also don‘t see any realistic option other than South Africa - or if terrorism issues can be solved the countries bordering the Mediterranean.

[stryker]

2 minutes ago, StefanMUC said:

I don‘t think that idea of the regional concept in Germany 2032 (if that ever comes to fruition!) can be a model for a country like South Africa (or elsewhere), because while that 2032 idea may involve a region with numerous independent cities and other admin divisions, it is geographically still only a very limited area and not stretching to different corners of the country.

As for Africa in general, I also don‘t see any realistic option other than South Africa - or if terrorism issues can be solved the countries bordering the Mediterranean.

I don't disagree that a regional bid would by let's say South Africa would be more spread out than the idea proposed by Germany. However, I still think that if the IOC ever has designs on giving an Olympics to an African country, it will have to be a country-wide bid, even for South Africa. I don't think given the size of the Olympics, even if costs are somewhat reduced that there is a single city on the entire continent capable of financing and logistically managing the Olympics. 

As for 2032, I think that's probably way too soon for the IOC to consider going to Africa especially with the fallout from Rio. 

 

[anthonyliberatori]

I am optimistic for a Cairo, Casablanca, Cape Town or Durban Olympics at some point in my life, but I see Durban and Cape Town (Cape Town over Duban in the tourism/post-Games interest sense, Durban in the economically-responsible, already has a 85k pax stadium built sense) as the greater of the 4. However, after Durban being stripped of its 2022 rights for the Commonwealth Games, and Rio's economic situation at the start of the Games, I do not think the IOC is interested at the moment in countries that they cannot guarantee will be ready for the Games 7 years later, it is just not a game I think they want to play at the moment. However, I will be rooting for Durban in my heart, even if my mind tells me otherwise

 

It will be interesting to see who is awarded the 2032 Games. If they follow standard 7-year protocol, they will be voted upon in 2025, which means the race will start in about 2022-2023, and the serious bids that make the final voting will all be reflective of Paris's success in 2024. I can see cities like Munich, Barcelona, and maybe even Rome or Milan being interested in 2032, and either revoking their bids if Paris is a hot mess, or fortifying them if Paris is very successful. This all goes to say that Tokyo 2020 leaves a positive view behind as well. But I know if the IOC has a strong city like Munich or Barcelona, one with a very stable government, and one (well, both really) with very positive sustainability records from their previous Games and many reusable features, they will vote for the European city over the South American or African candidate. I can see Buenos Aires throwing itself in there as well. But for the immediate Olympic future, as we fall back into a time similar to the late 70s/early 80s era, I think the IOC will stick to safe options.

[Dezcrafty]

On 9/20/2017 at 8:08 PM, thatsnotmypuppy said:

'WTF is an Abuja?

LOL