INCHEON, South Korea // Doha and Dubai are capable of hosting the Middle East’s first Olympic Games and the region would simply have to trust itself to deliver a great event in the face of doubt and criticism, the president of the Olympic Council of Asia says.
Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah, who also heads the powerful Association of National Olympic Committees, said a successful bid would be well received in a region where sport is helping bring about change.
However, he recognised it would also bring protest from other parts of the world in the same way Fifa’s decision to award Qatar hosting rights for the 2022 World Cup provoked criticism.
“I think even if we host a birthday party there would be such a reaction,” Sheikh Ahmad said. “That is the tradition of the media.
“For that we have to respect their thoughts but we have to trust ourselves that we can deliver a great event.”
Doha bid for the 2016 and 2020 Olympics but never made the shortlist, while Dubai was reportedly on the verge of a bid for 2016, eventually awarded to Rio de Janeiro, but it failed to materialise.
In December 2012, Abdulraman Falaknaz, finance director of the UAE National Olympic Committee, told The National that Dubai was ready to bid for the 2024 Olympics, as soon as the go-ahead was given from the Government. Bidding is due to being in 2015.
While major events were once the domain of Europe and North America, Asia is now viewed as a “safe pair of hands” when it comes to hosting the world’s biggest sporting competitions.
The IOC delivered an unequivocal endorsement of Asia’s dynamic economies and its place in the future of the sporting world by awarding the 2018 winter Games to South Korea’s Pyeongchang and the 2020 summer Olympics to Tokyo.
The continent will also host the rugby World Cup (Japan) and World Swimming Championships (South Korea) in 2019, the end-of-season Women’s Tennis Association championships (Singapore), as well as a handful of Formula One races each year, including the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
“We are capable in many cities in the Middle East to host an Olympics – Dubai is ready, Doha is ready,” said Sheikh Ahmad.
“I know that not every city can host the Olympics. Only the main ones, and even they are always faced with difficulties. We can see this with Rio, even until now there are problems.”
The OCA recently found itself embroiled in its own hosting controversy when Vietnam pulled out of staging the Asian Games in 2019.
Hanoi had been awarded the Games, second only in size to the summer Olympics, in November 2012 but Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung pulled the plug earlier this year, saying Vietnam was suffering from the effects of global recession and the state was unable to foot the bill for facilities and venues.
Economists estimated the cost of Vietnam hosting the Games varied from $150 million (Dh550m) to as high as $500 million (Dh1.84 billion) and while Vietnam’s $155bn economy is in recovery, it faces deep-rooted problems including weak infrastructure, high levels of bad debt and a state sector mired in graft and inefficiency.
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