The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) submitted their official Letter of Intent to host the 2036 Summer Olympic Games this week.
Though a location is not yet final, the Indian Express reports that western city Ahmedabad is a frontrunner. The campaign is pushing to add yoga, chess, and squash along with other traditional Indian sports like kho kho and kabaddi to the 2036 program.
If selected, this would be India’s first time hosting a major international multi-sport event in over 25 years. Most recently, New Delhi served as the host of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, which was riddled with criticism and controversies.
During the construction of the games there were reportedly dozens of workers that died. Workers also reported receiving compensation below minimum wage. Furthermore, several publications reported evidence of child labor at the commonwealth games.
The week before the start of the games, 10,000 volunteers backed out from helping the event.
There were also swimming-specific issues at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. On the first night, debris from the ceiling fell into the pool, causing meet delays. The pool’s water filtration system also broke before the final session of competition.
Despite controversies of India’s Commonwealth Games, India’s 2036 plan has been backed by current IOC president Thomas Bach. Additionally, French president Emmanuel Macron supported the bid and said his country would exchange expertise from the Paris 2024 Olympics if India were to be selected.
India, the second-largest country on earth by population and fifth-largest economy on earth by GDP, has begun to catch the attention of the IOC for its commercial potential. Cricket, which is wildly popular in India, is being added as an Olympic sport by Los Angeles 2028 organizers, and the IOC is even considering moving the events from Los Angeles to the American east coast to make the time zone more convenient for fans in India.
Observers hope that a rapid modernization in India over the last decade along with increasing political influence will help it avoid some of the pitfalls that the Commonwealth Games faced.
India becomes one of four 2036 official bids thus far, joining Istanbul, Türkiye; Santiago, Chile; and Nustantra, Indonesia. The IOC reports that dozens of other locations have expressed interest in hosting the 2036 games. Other prominent campaigns include Doha, Qatar, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The host of the 2036 Games will not be decided until after next year’s IOC elections.
Open water in the ganges boutta be lit 🔥🔥
YOGA? Really??
Open water in India??? Yuck!
“ Additionally, French president Emmanuel Macron supported the bid and said his country would exchange expertise from the Paris 2024 Olympics if India were to be selected.” – dog you are not the one who should be talking right now.
For anyone unaware, Olympic bids/volunteers have been steadily decreasing for each games, so India volunteering is a positive thing imo, and the last time the games were held in Asia I feel like they were pretty non-controversial, I wasn’t that old then though. The 2010 incident is admittedly concerning, but after 26 years who’s to say significant progress can’t be made.
unfortunately, india is definitively not japan
Now we have to say Macron is a very smart politician and he loves his country so much. After 2036 Indian Olympic, all the bad memories about Paris Olympic would be gone.
Horrible idea
Well, thats a lock really, what could go wrong?🤣🙄
FYI India has the world’s largest population. I’d back Istanbul -an amazing city – for these Olympics or perhaps Santiago, maybe give India the chance too.