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IOC president keen on South African Olympic bid- 24 Jun 2010 00:00:00

International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge has welcomed the prospect of a South African city making a bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games after this summer’s football World Cup is over.

Commented Rogge: ‘I think it's absolutely normal that they think of the future; what next after the FIFA World Cup?.

‘So we're glad that they're thinking about the Olympic Games. I will definitely take this up with the president when I meet him at the FIFA World Cup final.’

Rogge is due to meet South African President Jacob Zuma when he flies to the country for the final, which will take place in Johannesburg on 11th July.

The IOC president underlined that Cape Town had made a ‘credible’ and ‘very good’ bid in 1997 to become the first African host of the Olympic Games, in 2004, before South Africa focused on staging football's top event.

The race to stage the 2020 Olympic Games is set to open next year, with the deadline for the submission of applications to the IOC falling in 2013.

Rome was recently chosen by the Italian National Olympic Committee as its bidder, while Istanbul has reportedly been preparing a bid.

The 2016 Olympics are due to be held in Rio de Janeiro, the first time that the games are being staged in South America.