SA is eyeing a bid for the 2024 Olympics in the wake of the Games in London, with Durban a frontrunner, reports iol.
According to the report, on August 15, Tubby Reddy, CEO of the SA Olympic Committee and Sports Confederation (SASCOC), said they had already commissioned a feasibility study on a 2024 Olympic bid.
Expected to be done in two to three phases and completed next year, it will determine which city would be best suited to make the bid on behalf of the country.
South Africa was originally in the running for the 2020 Olympics until the government decided to withdraw to focus on social priorities.
The feasibility study ties in with the Sports and Events Tourism Exchange (SETE) conference and exhibition to be held in Durban next month, where a 17-year plan will be discussed and decided on with the National Sports Tourism Steering committee.
SETE conference director, Sugen Pillay, said the committee was tasked by SASCOC with developing and implementing a national strategy that would outline the key sports events which SASCOC, and its federations and partners, will be bidding for between 2013 and 2030.
“Almost a year of research and careful planning and preparation is set to come to fruition when the recommendations of the strategy are discussed and adopted at the forthcoming conference,” said Pillay.
He added that the strategy would also look at how South Africa would bid for such events and also look at the capacity of each city.
Reddy said the first phase of the study would look at the year-to-year plan targeting hosting international events, and the second phase would look specifically at the Olympics. He also said SASCOC would also focus on infrastructure – what was already in place and what still needed to be done.
Municipal spokesman, Thabo Mofokeng, said Durban would be guided by government on whether it would bid. He said it would also consider feasibility. It would further require financial support from national government and the province.
Mofokeng said he was confident Durban would have an edge over other cities because it has “the best facilities that can handle any sporting code and also has skilled people to host the best events in the country”.
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