Explained | How are Olympic hosts selected?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted that India will leave no stone unturned in its efforts to organise the 2036 Olympics as the government expressed a strong desire to host the biggest sporting event in the world.

PM Modi inaugurated the 141st Session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Mumbai.

The IOC session was held in India after a gap of 40 years. The last time India hosted the session was in 1983 in New Delhi.

The sports ministry had recently said that the government will back Indian Olympic Association’s bid for hosting the games. 

The last time India hosted a multi-sport event was the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. The country has organised several other prestigious tournaments such as the Boxing World Championship and the Asian Wrestling Championship in recent past.  

Hosting the Games is a costly affair. The cost to host the 2021 Tokyo Olympics was estimated to be $15 billion, which was double the cost Tokyo was expected to spend when the Japanese city was awarded the Games in 2013.

Poland and Indonesia have expressed interest in hosting the 2036 Olympics.

Where will be the next Olympic Games held?

• 2024 - Paris, France, from July 26 to August 11. 

• 2028 - Los Angeles, USA, from July 14 to 30.   

• 2032 - Brisbane, Australia.

How are Olympic hosts elected?

• An Olympic host election is the result of a close collaborative partnership between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the potential host, together with its National Olympic Committee (NOC), to explore every aspect of the proposed Games vision and plan.

• Cities and regions interested in hosting the Olympic Games should reach out first to their NOC, to request its official support. The NOC then makes contact with the IOC, which provides support and advice from the early stages.

• If the NOC decides to take the project further, it can send an official letter to the IOC as an Interested Party.

• The host election process is overseen by two Future Host Commissions, one for Summer, and one for Winter Games. 

• When it feels a project is ready to move to the next stage, the relevant Future Host Commission can recommend to the IOC Executive Board (EB) to open a Targeted Dialogue for a specific edition/year of the Summer or Winter Olympic Games, with one or more cities or regions. From this point the Interested Party is known as a “Preferred Host” for the Games edition.

• During this process, IOC members will have a number of opportunities to learn more about the project from feasibility reports by the Future Host Commission and presentations by the Preferred Host.

• At the end of the Targeted Dialogue, following a detailed report and recommendation by the Future Host Commission, the IOC Executive Board will decide whether to propose one or more hosts for election by all IOC members at an IOC Session.

International Olympic Committee

• Baron Pierre de Coubertin was the founder of the modern Olympic Games. Inspired by the ancient Olympic Games held in Olympia, Greece, which ended in 393 AD, Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin decided to pursue his project to revive the Olympic Games. 

• In 1894 he founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the first Olympic Congress in Paris to help build a peaceful and better world by educating young people through sport. The first Olympic Games of the modern era were held in 1896 in Athens.

• The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is the leader of the Olympic Movement and the guardian of the Olympic Games. 

• It is an international non-governmental not-for-profit organisation, in the form of an association.

• It acts as a catalyst for collaboration between all Olympic stakeholders, including the athletes, the National Olympic Committees, the international federations, organising committees for the Olympic Games, the worldwide Olympic partners and Olympic broadcast partners. It also collaborates with public and private authorities including the United Nations and other international organisations.

• The IOC is based in Switzerland’s Lausanne. It is known as the “Olympic Capital”.

IOC members

• To become an IOC member, it is necessary to be elected by the IOC Session by a majority of the votes cast. The IOC recruits and elects its members from among the people it deems qualified.

• The IOC’s members include active athletes, former athletes and the presidents or senior leaders of the International Sports Federations (IFs) or international organisations recognised by the IOC.

• The IOC members meet at the general assembly, or Session, which is the organisation’s supreme organ, and whose decisions are final. The IOC members are elected for a period of eight years, and their mandate

can be renewed.

• The members meet every year at the IOC Session in order to take decisions concerning the institution and the Olympic Games, such as the election of the hosts of the Games, changes to the Olympic Charter, election of the IOC president, vice-presidents, and members of the IOC  Executive Board (EB), as well as the cooptation of new members.

• The IOC president is elected by the members of the organisation by a secret ballot. Only one IOC member can be elected to the presidency. Their mandate is of eight years, renewable once for four years.

• The IOC is currently composed of 99 members, including IOC president Thomas Bach. 

• An IOC member may be elected as honorary president if they have rendered exceptional services as president of the IOC.

• Also, any member who retires after serving the IOC for at least 10 years and having rendered exceptional services to it may be elected as an IOC honorary member. There are currently 43 IOC honorary members.

Olympic motto

• The original motto was made up of three Latin words — “Citius, Altius, Fortius”, translating to “Faster, Higher, Stronger” in English.

• In 2021, The Olympic motto was amended to “Faster, Higher, Stronger — Together” during the International Olympic Committee’s session in Tokyo.