South Africa’s Gauteng Province to Bid For 2024 Olympics

South Africa’s Gauteng Province will submit a bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games subject to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) allowing regions to host the event instead of just cities, as part of the changes being made under the Agenda 2020 reform.

The IOC is due to announce changes to its procedures at its Extraordinary Session in Monaco on December 8 and 9.

At the recent the SportAccord IF Forum, Gauteng’s Minister for Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation, Molebatsi Bopape confirmed the Provine’s intentions.

“If the IOC’s going to be looking at changing the rules, they need to be accommodating Gauteng as a competitor for 2024,” said Bopape.

“I want to convince the Conference that I have taken all the effort to come here and give what we have.

“Gauteng would be more than ready with the infrastructure, the airport [the O. R. Tambo International Airport near Johannesburg], and it’s not only an airport, it’s the main airport in the whole of Africa.”

Gauteng is South Africa’s most populated Province and it has already proved both economically and structurally that it is capable of hosting a major sporting event during the staging of several matches at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in its capital Johannesburg.

The Province also contains Pretoria and has a population of more than 12 million, the biggest in the country.

“There won’t be any competition by virtue of the infrastructure development that we have in place,” said Bopape, when asked about any potential rival bids from other regions in South Africa.

Gauteng will be assisted by international sports consulting firm TSE Consulting to enable them to continue to strengthen its relationships with the international sports community and to further position it as a leader in regards to knowledge and experience in sports event hosting in South Africa and the surrounding region. 

Lars Haue-Pedersen, managing director of TSE Consulting, said: “We look forward to working with Gauteng Province as they refocus their efforts as a sport event and conference destination. 

“South Africa marked its presence in the industry through the hosting of the FIFA World Cup, and the role that Gauteng Province will play in the coming years will certainly continue to increase.”