South Africa announced Thursday its ambitious plan to bid for the 2036 or 2040 Olympic and Paralympic Games, potentially making it the first African nation to host the world’s premier sporting event.
The announcement comes 15 years after South Africa successfully staged the FIFA World Cup in 2010, becoming the first African country to host football’s showcase tournament.
“South Africa initiates its intention to bid for the 2036 and 2040 Olympic Games,” Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni declared during a press briefing in the capital.
Ntshavheni revealed that Pretoria has entered into “continuous dialogue with the International Olympic Committee,” which has been led since June by Zimbabwean swimmer Kirsty Coventry – herself an African sporting icon.
The minister described the current phase as “preliminary and exploratory engagement that is critical to advance South Africa’s intention to bid for the hosting rights of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.” She did not specify which South African city would serve as the potential host.
This marks South Africa’s second major Olympic pursuit. Cape Town previously bid to host the 2004 Games but lost to Athens in a 1997 vote.
In a confident assessment of the country’s readiness, Ntshavheni emphasized that South Africa wouldn’t require substantial new investment to meet Olympic standards.
“Even if we are offered the games tomorrow, cabinet is confident that we should be able to host them with our facilities,” she stated.
This optimism echoes sentiments expressed by former IOC President Thomas Bach during his visit to South Africa in October 2024. Bach praised the country’s “stability, infrastructure and vision to stage an Olympics.”
South Africa’s Olympic ambitions coincide with a broader African emergence in international sports hosting. Senegal’s capital, Dakar, will make history next year as the first African city to host the Youth Olympics, scheduled for October 31 to November 14, 2026.
The announcement also comes as the Olympic calendar fills up for the coming decades. Los Angeles will host the 2028 Summer Games, followed by Brisbane, Australia in 2032. Meanwhile, Munich voters recently approved a plan to bid for the 2036, 2040, or 2044 Olympics, marking a potential return to the German city that last hosted in 1972.
South Africa’s Olympic aspirations are part of a broader strategy to establish itself as a major sporting destination. The country has submitted a bid to host a Formula One Grand Prix at the historic Kyalami track near Johannesburg beginning in 2027.
Additionally, Africa’s most industrialized economy serves as the primary organiser for the 2027 men’s Cricket World Cup, further cementing its position as a continental sporting hub.
The Olympic bid represents not just South Africa’s ambitions, but potentially a historic moment for the entire African continent in the world of international sport.
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