If historic waterway settings are the latest must-have for Olympic host cities, Istanbul’s mayor is eager to show the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that his city has the perfect backdrop.
For cities vying for the 2036 Summer Games, hosting world championships in premier Olympic sports is a strong asset, and Qatar’s impressive track record over the past decade stands as proof.
When it comes to winning the IOC’s favor through ambition, financial clout and relationship-building, India’s bid, supported by the Ambani family and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is well-positioned.
Saudi Arabia is following a similar path and recently secured a 12-year Esports Olympic Games hosting deal with the IOC, extending beyond the next Summer Games.
If the 2036 Olympics must go to Asia – following Paris in 2024, Los Angeles in 2028 and Brisbane in 2032 – Indonesia will push its case as a fast-emerging economy of 280 million people.
In Paris, interested parties discreetly made their case for hosting the Olympics in a process run by the IOC that is now more subdued and less obviously a campaign, with critics saying it is too opaque.
The process can conclude with a winner far quicker than the old method of a multi-candidate vote seven years before the Games begin.
Brisbane secured the 2032 award 11 years in advance, outpacing Qatar.
If one thing is clear, the 2036 Olympics host will be known long before 2029 and will be strongly influenced by the high bar set by Paris.
"I mostly focus on what the IOC expects, what they dream of, what the world wants to see," Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu told The Associated Press (AP) in Paris. "Personally, I’m not really interested in knowing which city is the competitor."
The IOC has said it is in talks with a "double-digit" number of cities or countries about their interest in hosting a future Summer Games, possibly beyond 2036.
Still, those who hosted hospitality houses in Paris over the past two weeks showed clear intent.
At the opening of India House on July 27, IOC member Nita Ambani said hosting an Olympics was "a dream that belongs to 1.4 billion Indians."
The Ambani family, India’s richest and owners of the Reliance Industries conglomerate, is known globally for lavish hosting. Celebrations for their son Anant’s wedding in Mumbai attracted world leaders, A-list performers and several IOC members who ultimately will vote on Games hosts.
Qatar did not have a public hospitality venue, although the ruling Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, attended the IOC meetings and opening ceremony.
Istanbul House opened in the final week of the Paris Olympics, reminding visitors that the city will host the 2027 European Games, a kind of audition project.
"You are also competing with the past experiences of the Olympic Games," Imamoğlu said in translated comments. "You need to do better than what has been done in the past."
Paris has demonstrated to the IOC that the Olympics can be staged sustainably, without creating white elephant venues that linger as reminders of wasted taxpayer costs.
Los Angeles in 2028 will go further by using only existing or temporary venues. This goal is achieved by relocating two sports – softball and canoe slalom – about 1,300 miles (2,000 kilometers) east to Oklahoma City.
Indonesia hopes to impress Olympic evaluators with its experience hosting the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang. The Asian Games, which features more sports and athletes than the Olympics, will not be hosted by Saudi Arabia until 2034 in Riyadh. Qatar hosted it in 2006 in Doha and will again in 2030.
"Indonesia has the infrastructure, the ambition and the willingness to do it," Indonesia’s team leader at the Paris Olympics, Anindya Bakrie, said.
When Indonesia declined to host Israeli teams at the Under-20 World Cup in men’s soccer last year, FIFA moved the tournament from the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation just weeks before it began.
"By saying that we want to bid for 2036, it also means that we know we have to address the issue. If we do it right," Bakrie said, "we have enough time to educate the public."
And if Istanbul is to win – whether in 2036 or 2040 – why not envision another athlete parade at an opening ceremony along the Bosporus, which connects Europe and Asia?
"If you have the scenario and the right choreography, it can be very formidable," Imamoğlu said. "You can dream of having 500,000 people watching the inauguration in such a setting."
