Poland and India are both planning a bid for the 2036 Summer Olympic Games.
The 2036 Olympics are the next edition of the Summer Games up for grabs after Brisbane, Australia was chosen to host the 2032 Games two years ago.
Under the new system for selecting Olympic hosts, put in place in 2019, the IOC’s Future Host Commissions choose a front-runner early in the process and the full IOC executive board then votes to approve or disapprove that choice. That is in contrast to the former process, which set up a dramatic head-to-head vote between top bidders and created a process that was both expensive and susceptible to corruption.
The IOC has not yet set a timeline for selecting a future host, and at this early stage of the process, there is a wide range of cities, countries, and regions that have floated the idea, but only a handful are confirmed bids.
Among those are a group of four cities in Mexico; the new under-construction capital of Nusantara, Indonesia; and Istanbul, Turkey. Egypt and China are also expected to formally bid.
Upcoming Olympic hosts include Paris in 2024 (summer), Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, in 2026 (winter), Los Angeles in 2028, and Brisbane in 2032.
Poland’s Bid
Poland’s made a joint announcement of their bid via Polish president Andrzej Duda and Polish Olympic Committee chairman Radoslaw Piesiewicz with Warsaw as the centerpiece.
Warsaw, Poland’s capital and largest city, has a population of over 1.8 million, which makes it the 6th-largest city in the European Union. The bid coincides with the conclusion of a massive already-planned expansion of the CPK, or Central Communication Port, based outside of Warsaw.
Infrastructure expansion, often a result-of and justification-for hosting the Olympics, is already high on Poland’s radar, with massive expansions of public transport and the country’s central airport planned as part of a broader expansion of rail service in central and eastern Europe.
The declaration was made during the 2nd European Congress of Sport and Tourism in Zakopane.
Poland has never hosted an Olympic Games, but did bid for the Winter Games in 2006 (Zakopane) and 2022 (Krakow). Neither bid advanced to the final vote under the old system. Poland also bid for the 2014 Youth Summer Olympics in Poznan, though that vote was lost to Nanjing, China.
Poland’s biggest international hosting was the European Games in summer 2023. With 6,857 athletes from 48 nations participating, that event is one of the largest in scale of participants (the Olympics are about 10,000 participants) though with far less of a spectator impact.
India’s Bid
India has not specified a city to its bid, but the world’s second-most populous nation has committed to the process of bringing the Games to South Asia.
India and its massive marketplace has been a focus of the Olympic movement, including the addition of the country’s most popular sport, cricket, for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
The 141st IOC Session, where cricket was confirmed, was held in Mumbai, and the country’s Minister of Youth and Sports Affairs Anurag Thakur said there that he backed Ahmedabad to be the host city. He also said India intends to bid for the 2029 Summer Olympic Olympics.
India has also never hosted the Olympics, but did host the 2010 Commonwealth Games, where 4,352 from 71 Commonwealth nations and territories competed. That event was hit by problems with flooding, poor conditions in the Athletes’ Village, delays in construction, and corruption, but the country formed a special committee to review the allegations and “draw lessons from it.”
Allahabad has an estimated population of around 1.5 million. As of the 2011 census, the country of India has at least 46 cities with a population greater than 1 million.
Sorry but I have to point this out — Ahmedabad and Allahabad are two different cities in two different states. The reason why they want to be in Ahmedabad is because its the capital of Gujrat (the home state of the current PM and it also has a 130,000 seater stadium).
The Commonwealth games had a bunch of issues as indicated above but the economy of the country back then to now and what it should be by 2036 will be night and day so hopefully things will be in order but who knows. Also I do hope we dont win the bid. It will be a huge strain on the economy of country and will be an event for… Read more »
Poland doesn’t have deep enough pockets to override their abysmal women’s and LGBT rights issues to make an Olympics happen. They don’t have oil money.
Poland is rapidly changing – Catholic identity has slumped in the past decade; Swathes of the country has gone from 85% Catholic identifying in 2011 to 65% in the 2021 census, and that will only be sped up by Poles returning from the rest of the EU as they tend to be more secular. Poland looks a lot like Ireland 20 years ago and I think the country will be at the forefront of Europe very soon, economically, militarily and socially.
Recently back from Poland and I have to say – It would make a fantastic host. A burgeoning middle class and a very proud people, so I have no doubt ticket sales would be great, but beyond that it offers great modern infrastructure, lots of options for accomodation, timely public transport domestically and great links to European ‘hub’ cities for travellers coming from further afield, nice open public spaces in every city and town I visited and surprisingly great food options.
Ps – It’s also an absolute bargain. Can’t believe places in Europe can still be so cheap!
The IOC don’t usually go three consecutive Olympics outside of Europe. After LA and Brisbane, I’d expect a return to a European city in 2036. Poland is also a beautiful country and would make fine hosts.
Doubtful either bid will win.
Thomas Bach is simple to read. He will manipulate it to India, if he still owns IOC power when the decision is made.
India is the Worlds most populous nation…..just as Melbourne is now Australia’s biggest city!
I’m not sure is the new Polish government, previously in opposition, would also support the olympic bid.
1 big vote for Poland.
But not for women’s rights there apparently.