Doha, Qatar Says It Will Bid For The 2036 Olympic Games

Forbes

30-07-2025

It held the World Gymnastics Championships in 2018, the World Athletics Championships a year later, and the FIFA World Cup in 2022. Now Doha, Qatar is throwing its hat in the ring to host the 2036 Summer Olympics — and the city has more than one compelling argument in its favor.
Annika Bornebusch of Denmark competes in the Women's 20m High Diving at the 2024 World Aquatics ... More Championships at Doha Port. Doha has recently formalized its intention to bid for the 2036 Olympics. (Photo by)
'We currently have 95 percent of the required sports infrastructure in place to host the Games, and we have a comprehensive national plan to ensure 100 percent readiness of all facilities,' said Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani, President of Qatar Olympic Committee, as Doha confirmed the creation of a committee to steer the city through the Olympic bidding process late last week.Translation: Zero or almost zero newly-built venues. So far so good. What about the scorching summer heat? Doha is a city where temperatures can top 100 degrees on a normal day in July and August, so doing anything there means dealing with the heat.'Doha summers are undeniably intense — with soaring temperatures, high humidity, and a sun that shines a little too strong,' the luxury hotel Shaza, located a block from Doha Stadium. admitted in a blog post last month. (The hotel's advice for guests includes 'embrace air-conditioned spaces' and 'keep a water bottle at your desk.') At the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, the men's and women's marathons took place in the middle of the night because it was the coolest part of the day.Anyway, despite their summer title, the Olympics don't necessarily have to take place during the warmest months of the year. Holding the Games in autumn or spring was bandied around during the IOC Presidential elections earlier this year, and global weather patterns could dictate the dates in the future. The 2022 World Cup took place in the winter months, and so will the Asian Games, which Doha will host in November 2030.The city itself is a desert metropolis where old and new fuse to create something distinctly of our time. In Doha Bay, traditional wooden dhow boats bob peacefully in front of glass skyscrapers. Every morning thousands of workers make their way through the city streets to one of the numerous construction sites where more buildings are rising above the desert sandscape. Most are not native Qataris; of the nation's nearly three million people, only just over 300,000 are. Ask a driver or construction worker or hotel clerk in Doha where they come from and they might tell you that they are Egyptian or Pakistani or Filipino.On the other hand, one might argue that such diversity makes Doha a truly international city.New frontiers for the Olympics"The bid will reflect a unified national vision that builds on Qatar's track record, speaks to the potential of the region and upholds the enduring values of excellence, friendship and respect that define the Olympic and Paralympic movements," the new bid committee affirmed last week.
Dhow boats, traditional Red Sea fishing vessels, floating in Doha Bay. (Photo by Francois Nel/Getty ... More Images)
The Olympics have never been hosted in the Middle East, though Doha did make it to the bidding stage in the race for the 2032 Games ultimately awarded to Brisbane. While Qatar's climate would make some events a challenge in mid-summer, the city has already demonstrated that it has the resources to put on a successful Games. The Asian Games would provide an ample dress rehearsal.Qatar's oil resources have made the country immensely wealthy but have compromised it ecologically, and the World Cup cast a spotlight on human rights concerns. Its bid will also face competition from cities on four continents: Turkey, Indonesia, Chile, and India are also planning to vie for 2036, and South Korea, Hungary, Germany, and others have signaled that they might jump into the fray as well. In recent years, the International Olympic Committee has increasingly signaled that it is open to new ideas and hosting the Games in new regions.Per capita, Qatar is the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide, according to statistics from 2017. But geographically, Qatar is more central than you might think: more than 80 percent of the world's population lives within a six-hour plane ride of Doha, something not even the great metropolises of the world can boast.Doha's new bid committee and other interested parties could be in for a long wait. Olympic officials have indicated that a decision on the 2036 Games is unlikely to happen before next year at the earliest.