Qatar bids to host the 2036 Olympic and Paralympic Games

Doha. – The Qatar Olympic Committee announced this Tuesday its intention to host the 2036 Olympic and Paralympic Games, with the aim of being the first to be held in the Middle East. The committee confirmed in an official statement its participation in talks with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to host the Games, which is part of a new mechanism for selecting the host city for the event. This decision reflects for Qatar its “commitment to the Olympic and Paralympic movement and its interest in effectively contributing to the development of world sport”. The Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Arab country, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, expressed his satisfaction and highlighted the “leadership position that the country has achieved on the international sports scene”. The President of the Qatar Olympic Committee and the Bid Committee, Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani, stated that his country “believes in the power of sport and its impact to unite peoples and cultures, empower people and unleash human potential, especially of young people.” The Gulf country, according to Al Thani, “considers sport as an engine for development and a platform to promote understanding and peace among peoples”.

Qatar has hosted numerous international championships in various sports, including the 2022 World Cup, which Argentina won, as well as the 2019 World Athletics Championships, the 2015 Men’s Handball World Championship, and the Padel World Championship, among others.

Local media confirmed in April that the country had begun preparing a bid document for the organization of the Olympic Games following the “success of the country as the host of numerous sporting competitions, in particular the 2022 FIFA World Cup“. However, organizations such as Amnesty International (AI) stated last year that “giving the tournament to Qatar without first ensuring that there were sufficient human rights protections caused FIFA to contribute to more than a decade of abuses that have not been remedied.” A investigation by the British newspaper The Guardian in 2021 revealed that more than 6,500 workers had died during the construction of the World Cup stadiums, a figure that was not recognized by the tournament organization, which said that there were 37 deaths not related to work and three that were classified as work-related deaths.