South Africa confirms Olympic bid talks 13/07/2010 |
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South African officials have confirmed that the country is considering putting together a bid for the Olympic Games in 2020 or 2024.
Several leading figures, including Fifa president Sepp Blatter, have supported the widely held view that South Africa will make a bid following its successful hosting of the football World Cup.
And now Gideon Sam, president of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc), has confirmed that the body will consult with the South African Government and national federations with a view to mounting a campaign.
"It is the dream of the International Olympic Committee [IOC] that developing countries are given an opportunity to host the Olympics," Sam said.
"It is now up to the Government, the national Olympic committee and the sporting community whether or not this country takes the decision to bid for the Games.
"The IOC has certain policies by which we will be guided if our government supports a possible bid.
"I can't say that we will be going for 2020 or 2024, but we will be guided by the sporting movement in this country as to what we are going to do."
IOC president Jacques Rogge said the World Cup had been an "outstanding success" and that an Olympic bid from South Africa would be welcomed.
"From the start, when South Africa were named as World Cup hosts, we all knew the country would be able to organise the tournament," Rogge added.
"This country has hosted a very successful All Africa Games [in 1999], a Rugby World Cup [in 1995] and international cricket championships [including the inaugural World Twenty20 in 2007].
"Now it is up to you as a nation to decide if you want to host this event [the Olympics]."
Deputy sports minister Gert Oosthuizen revealed that the Government had already shown interest in bidding for a future Olympics and would be in discussions with Sascoc about the 2020 and 2024 Games.
"I think it's safe to say that we have expressed interest in hosting an event of this magnitude that will leave legacies," he said.
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