2020 Summer Olympics

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Image:Olympic-rings.png

The 2020 Summer Olympics, formally called the Games of the XXXII Olympiad, will be an international athletic event that has yet to be organized by the International Olympic Committee.

Potential bids

Australian subtropical city Brisbane would seriously consider bidding for the Olympic Games in 2020 or 2024, Queensland Premier Peter Beattie has said. His announcement came after IOC President Jacques Rogge, who has said the IOC would love to see a bid from Brisbane one day.

Nonetheless, Olympic officials are urging Brisbane not to be too eager in pursuing the idea so soon, because the 2000 Olympics were held in southern Australian counterpart Sydney.

In 1985, Brisbane failed to win the bid for the 1992 Summer Olympics, which was held in Barcelona.

Denver, Colorado (USA) is conducting a feasibility study for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2020 Summer Olympics. However, Denver has the dubious distinction of being the only city to reject hosting duties without a compelling reason. (Rome rejected its hosting duties for the 1908 Summer Olympics because of reconstruction efforts following the 1906 eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which devastated Naples.) This is widely viewed as a huge hindrance to the bid effort, if not killing it completely.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia is suggested as a bidder [1] and also Prague, Czech Republic [2]. There is also speculation that Los Angeles might be interested in hosting the 2020 games and that because of a desire to share the Games among the continents, as a European city (London) is to host the 2012 it will make it unlikely that other European cities could play host to the Summer Olympics until at least 2024. [3]. Cape Town, South Africa, which was eliminated during the third round of the 2004 Olympic race, may also bid for the 2020 Olympics [4]. It is widely perceived that the IOC wants to give the games to an African nation, but could not do so because of infrastructural deficiencies. This is supported by a comment made by IOC President Rogge in regards to the Cape Town bid for the 2004 Olympics (which went to Athens, Greece. Rogge said that he wanted to give the games to Cape Town, and told them to keep trying.

In July 2005, Taiwanese premier Frank Hsieh announced Taiwan's effort in the bid of hosting the 2020 Olympics as well. However, the Taiwanese authorities have not announced which city would be nominated to make the application.

A lot depends on where the 2016 Games end up being held. It is believed that the Games will return to the USA due to an unwritten convention that every 20 years the IOC reciprocate for the vast payments by the NBC media group for Olympic coverage - funds that largely bankroll the IOC. If the United States (or Canada; Toronto was 2nd to Beijing in the 2008 bidding and may consider a run at 2016 with the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, British Columbia long out of the way) were to win the 2016 Games, there is a very good chance that the 2020 Games could go to an African or South American city, two regions that have never hosted a Summer Olympics. But if either region actually hosts the 2016 Games, the 2020 Games will likely end up in either North America or Asia.