Durban picked to carry South Africa's Olympic bid, with the bill still unknown
The east coast city beat Johannesburg and Cape Town to become the country's candidate for the 2036 or 2040 Summer Games, but officials could not yet say what hosting would cost.
South Africa has put Durban forward as its preferred candidate to host the 2036 or 2040 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, choosing the east coast city over Johannesburg and Cape Town. If the bid succeeds, the Games would be held in Africa for the first time.
The announcement was made on Thursday by the acting president of the South African Olympic committee, Lwandile Simelane. Durban would be the main candidate city, he said, but the bid would probably be a multi-city one, with some events proposed for other cities.
What the bid would cost South Africa is not yet known. Officials said on Thursday they were not in a position to give any estimates of the expense of staging the Olympics if the bid was successful.
The cost question is not a small one. Durban was talked about as a possible Olympic host more than a decade ago, after South Africa staged the 2010 World Cup, the first held in Africa. An official bid did not materialise, largely because of concerns over costs.
South Africa is one of seven countries bidding for the 2036 Games. The others are India, Qatar, South Korea, Germany, Hungary and Turkey. The International Olympic Committee has set 31 October as the deadline for national Olympic committees to formally declare their interest in bidding for 2036, and will choose the host city in mid-2029.
As the Guardian reported on 29 October, Durban is South Africa’s third biggest city and was preferred to Johannesburg, the country’s economic hub, and Cape Town. The committee’s choice of Durban, and the multi-city proposal around it, is the part of the announcement that will shape what South Africans are actually asked to host.
For a reader in this country, the announcement settles the question of which city carries the bid and leaves open the question that has sunk a South African Olympic attempt before. Until the committee puts a number on the table, residents in Durban and the other proposed host cities have no way of judging what the Games would mean for rates, transport, venues or the public purse.
The Enquirer will keep asking for that figure, and will report it when the committee provides one.
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