Egypt plans to bid to host the Olympic Games in 2036, potentially fulfilling the dreams of thousands of local athletes.
The Arab country prepares a comprehensive file on organising the games, according to Youth and Sports Minister, Ashraf Sobhi.
If picked to be the venue of the games, Egypt will be the first Arab and African country to host them.
The Olympic Games are held every four years, bringing together thousands of athletes from all corners of the globe.
President Abdel Fattah El Sisi has already given concerned national agencies the green light to start preparing the Egyptian file, Minister Sobhi said.
Egypt, he said, would reap so many gains [by hosting the tournament].
Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach praised Egypt’s accomplishments of the past years.
Bach, who was in Cairo, met President Sisi at the Presidential Palace last Saturday.
He also made a tour of the Olympic City, a sprawling conglomerate of sports facilities in Egypt’s New Administrative Capital on the desert outskirts of Egyptian capital Cairo.
While in the city, the Olympic Committee president listened to an explanation about its different components.
Sports officials accompanying Bach also briefed him about the most important sports contests organised in Egypt in the past period.
Egypt’s sports infrastructure, he said, qualifies it to host the 2036 Olympic Games.
Bach cheered what he described as the comprehensive development of sports infrastructure in Egypt.
He said he was happy to be in Cairo and visit the Giza Pyramids, a world wonder that characterises Egypt.
The Egypt International City for Olympic Games stands at the centre of Egypt’s preparations for the potential hosting of the Olympic Games in 2036.
The city is being constructed in the New Capital over 450 acres of land. It contains all types of sports facilities necessary for hosting major international sports competitions.
The city contains – among other things – a football stadium with capacity for 90,000 spectators, along with an Olympic and international indoor hall with capacity for 15,000 spectators, another hall with capacity for 8,000 spectators and a tennis complex with capacity for 3,500 fans.
The contents of the city also include an Olympic swimming pool complex with capacity for 5,000 spectators and shooting grounds.
The Olympic Village in Suez, which was recently inaugurated by President Sisi, is also to be at the centre of the Egyptian file.
This is an integrated sports city with international specifications. It is constructed on an area of 86 acres.
Egypt hosted 261 sports competitions between 2015 and 2021. In 2015 alone, the Arab country organized 35 competitions. In 2016, it hosted 66 competitions, 22 in 2017, 35 in 2018, 60 in 2019, 11 in 2020 and 32 in 2021.
Egyptian athletes also won a whopping 2,329 medals in the same period, including 595 in 2018, 808 in 2019, 696 in 2020 and 230 in 2021.
The host city of the games is expected to be named between 2025 and 2029.
The talk among the nation’s sports specialists and commentators now is about the gains Egypt will make if it wins the bid for hosting the Olympic Games in 2036.
True, these commentators say, Egypt will invest a sizeable amount of money on preparing for the tournament and an equally large amount of money on the actual organisation of the competitions, including by hosting thousands of athletes, but Egypt will make many economic gains.
These gains, they add, will translate into sizeable foreign currency revenues as well.
The local tourism sector will also boom with the possible arrival to Egypt of tens of thousands of foreign fans to support their teams and athletes.
Organising the competitions in Egypt can also translate into thousands of direct and indirect jobs for Egyptians, which will also reflect on the living conditions of a large number of Egyptian families, the same commentators and specialists said.
The Olympic Games will also be a matchless opportunity for Egypt to market itself culturally by taking the chance to showcase its cultural specificity to the tens of thousands of people who will arrive for the games, they added.
