IOC Confirms Seven Nations, Including Qatar and India, Bidding for 2036 Olympics

The International Olympic Committee said Tuesday, October 6, that seven countries are in formal talks to host the 2036 Summer Olympics and Paralympics: Qatar, India, Germany, Hungary, South Africa, South Korea and Türkiye, according to the IOC's own statement carried by Al Jazeera, Yahoo Sports, Reuters and the Associated Press.

Other national Olympic committees have until October 31 to throw their hat in, per the IOC, though Reuters reported new entrants at this late stage are "highly unlikely."

This isn't a decision. It's step one of a process that won't produce a winner until 2029. The seven will make virtual presentations to the IOC's Future Host Commission in November, followed by feasibility assessments. In March 2027, the IOC Executive Board, chaired by President Kirsty Coventry, opens what it calls "strategic dialogue" with a shortlisted group. Preferred hosts get named around November 2028, with a final vote by the full IOC membership in 2029, according to NBC Sports and the Associated Press (via TSN).

Qatar's edge, and its problems

Qatar is widely seen as the frontrunner, according to the Irish Times, built on its track record hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup and multiple world championships in Olympic sports. The country has bid before with Doha.

But two real problems follow Qatar into this race. First, the heat. A Doha Olympics would have to move off the traditional July-August slot the Summer Games have used since Athens 2004, exactly as organizers did for the 2022 World Cup, according to Reuters and the Associated Press.

Second, regional security. Reporting carried by Yahoo Sports and the Qatar Tribune, both citing DPA, stated plainly that "the Iran war showed that it could be a risky choice" for the IOC to award Qatar the Games. Neither source detailed the conflict further, but the point stands as a live concern among Olympic observers regardless of how the bidding math otherwise favors Doha.

India's bid is sliding, not surging

India's campaign centers on Ahmedabad, in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state of Gujarat, home to the world's largest cricket stadium, which is named after Modi, according to the Associated Press. India sent its letter of intent to the IOC in October 2024 and has never hosted an Olympics.

The Irish Times reported that India's bid "has slipped back during the past 18 months," citing a 2025 visit by IOC officials to Lausanne where concerns were raised about mismanagement and governance problems at the Indian Olympic Association, a lack of detail in the bid itself, and India's weak medal haul at the 2024 Paris Games. The Qatar Tribune separately flagged infrastructure and pollution concerns tied to Ahmedabad.

Supporters of the bid would point to Ahmedabad's scheduled hosting of the 2030 Commonwealth Games as a dress rehearsal, and to India's sheer scale as the world's most populous nation as reason enough for the IOC to finally look there.

Governance questions nobody's asking out loud

One detail buried in the Associated Press's reporting, via TSN, deserves more attention than it's gotten. The IOC's own voting membership includes Nita Ambani, from India's wealthiest family, and the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. Both will have a vote in 2029 on a host city race that includes their own countries. No source alleges wrongdoing, and IOC rules on recusal in host-city votes aren't detailed in the available reporting. But it's a structural wrinkle worth watching as the process grinds toward 2029.

The rest of the field

Hungary's bid, built around Budapest and reportedly stretching to Vienna and Bratislava according to the Irish Times, is "very well regarded," though it's unclear whether Hungary's current government prioritizes it the way former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán did. Germany picked Munich, host of the 1972 Games, as its candidate city in late September, with officials open to 2040 or 2044 if 2036 doesn't pan out, according to NBC Sports. South Africa is proposing a joint Cape Town-Johannesburg-Durban bid that would make it the first African host in Olympic history. Türkiye's Istanbul has failed in five previous attempts and is trying again, per Reuters. South Korea's bid details differ by source: the Associated Press says it's anchored in Seoul, while the Qatar Tribune reports a more complicated plan teaming the Jeonbuk region with Seoul that has "drawn concern in the capital."

Coventry, a two-time Olympic swimming gold medalist from Zimbabwe, framed the selection around athletes rather than politics. "Wherever the Games take place, one thing must never change: athletes have to be at the heart of everything we do," she said in the IOC's statement.

The next concrete marker is November, when all seven bidders present to the IOC's Future Host Commission. The shortlist comes in March 2027. Whether Qatar's heat and security questions, or India's governance record, change the calculus before then remains to be seen.