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I came across a news report that the Egyptian government was preparing a bid to host the 2036 Olympic games with Cairo as the forerunner city for the proposed bid. I found it interesting because as of today, no African country has hosted the Olympic games and the 2024, 2028, and 2032 Olympic hosts have already been decided in Paris, Los Angeles and Brisbane respectively.

Background

African countries are usually overlooked when it comes to hosting major global sporting events. In all fairness, it isn't entirely the fault of the deciding committees as most African countries do not even bother to bid for major events. While it might be the next frontier and fastest growing continent economically, the truth remains that the vast majority of countries in the continent are severely underdeveloped and her people still languish in poverty.

In the history of the summer Olympics, only two African countries have made bids to host the games. You probably can guess them without thinking as they are Africa's two most industrialized economies - South Africa and Egypt. The former made an unsuccessful bid to host the 2004 games which was later awarded to Athens, Greece. Egypt on the other hand has made three unsuccessful bids in the past, with intentions to host the 1916, 1936 and 2008 games not accepted.

Though still fraught with infrastructural and other challenges, the clamor to award the games to an African country has never been loudest. Many are of the opinion that Africa 'isn't ready' to host the games but I take strong exception to that. South Africa did manage to host the second biggest sporting event in the World, the 2010 FIFA World cup quite successfully. It should also be noted that the bidding process to host the World cup was open to only African countries in 2004.

Hosting such a major Global event is no mean feat though, and there are quite a lot of things to consider before making a bid. The economics for one is something that makes African countries unattractive and uncompetitive against their rich mostly Western or Asian bidding competitors. There are also other considerations that make the politics of selection quite complex, which puts African countries at a disadvantage.

Why Egypt?

If there is one African country who can pull it off though, I believe it is Egypt. As a nation, they have one of the richest Histories in Africa and certainly the most popular. Everyone has heard about the Pharaohs and the pyramids, so it won't be that much of a difficult sell as far as marketing goes. Egypt has good infrastructure too when compared with many other African nations and they are perhaps second only to South Africa in terms of industrialization. Their population of more than 80 million people will also be an added advantage, giving a prime marketing base to partner brands willing to sponsor the event.

Challenges

The first and biggest challenge for Egypt and any other African country to host the games is the huge financial implications it poses. Hosting the Olympics isn't cheap. The last games in Tokyo cost an estimated $13 Billion, almost double what was estimated. The Egyptian budget for the year 2022 is $111 Billion. If we go by that figure, then Egypt will be spending more than 10% of its budget just to host the games. Considering the likely new infrastructure that will need to be built, it is going to be a herculean task.

There are also concerns bordering on security, as the country has not been completely spared from the hands of Islamic extremists. These issues will need to be confronted to give people the confidence that a successful games can be hosted.

Conclusion

Of course if they do manage to pull it off, I have no doubt it will be a net positive from a cultural, historical and economic perspective. Realistically though, the best chance of this happening is by zoning the rights for the 2036 games to Africa.