Sport Industry Group

Sam confirms SA will bid for Olympics- 13 Jul 2010 00:00:00

As first revealed in an exclusive interview with SportIndustry.co.za, the president of the South Africa Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC), Gideon Sam, has confirmed that the country will consider a bid for the 2020 or 2024 Games.

‘All being well and with the full backing of FIFA, we’d like to look at hosting either the 2020 or 2024 Olympics,’ revealed Sam to SportIndustry.co.za.

‘Our Minister of Sport has been very encouraging of such a prospect. He even turned round to me and said ‘what are we waiting for?’’

‘We told the International Olympic Committee following a meeting in Vancouver earlier this year that we would like to host the Olympics but that we wanted to wait until we had the full report after this summer’s World Cup which will give us much more concrete evidence as to our abilities to host such a major sporting event,’ said Sam.

He added: ‘It is now up to the government, the national Olympic committee and the sporting community whether or not this country takes the decision to bid for the Games.’

Sam also confirmed that the country will look to host the Commonwealth Games: ‘We are even looking at bidding for the Commonwealth Games even sooner. There is no reason why we shouldn’t be in the frame for these kinds of spectacles.’

Read the full interview with Gideon Sam here.

Liked this story? Interested in hearing more of the latest news from the South African sport industry? Subscribe to our free daily newsletter by simply sending your email address and those of any interested colleagues to harry@sportindustry.biz