India Among Aspiring Hosts for Olympics in 2036 and Beyond: Thomas Bach

IOC President Thomas Bach

(Photo: AP)

India is among the aspirants to host the Olympics in 2036 and beyond, Thomas Bach, the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), has said.

After Brisbane (Australia) was chosen last month to host the 2032 Summer Games, the IOC enjoyed a queue of suitors to host the Olympics in 2036, 2040 and even beyond, Bach said.

The aspiring hosts include India, Indonesia, Germany, and Qatar, Bach said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.

A narrative about the Olympics has taken hold so strongly in recent years that it has become received wisdom: The mushrooming costs and controversies of hosting the Games have driven down, to nearly zero, the number of potential host cities.

Bach, who was re-elected this year for four more years as the IOC chief, presented a sharply different picture in a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal.

"And this is just the ones which come to my mind," Bach said during an interview during the recently concluded Tokyo Olympics, adding: "So we are really in a very good long-term position."

Others who have publicly expressed interest in hosting the Games include Russia, whose athletes have spent the past three Olympics with their country under a partial or full ban for doping.