Can South Africa really afford the Olympics?

It was interesting to hear yesterday that South Africa is one of a number of countries to have put their hands up to host the 2036 Olympic Games.

Countries still have until the end of the month to declare an interest, but the International Olympic Committee (IOC) revealed that South Africa, India, Qatar, Germany, Hungary, Türkiye and South Korea have all expressed interest.

A shortlist will be drafted in March 2027. South Africa has also expressed interest in hosting the 2040 Games if they are overlooked in 2036.

South Africa successfully hosted the 2010 Fifa World Cup, the 1995 Rugby World Cup – which we won – and the 2003 Cricket World Cup. We also co-host next year’s Cricket World Cup with neighbours Zimbabwe and Namibia.

However, we cited budget constraints after missing several deadlines as the reason we pulled out at the last minute for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, which were to be held in Durban.

It’s obvious hosting an Olympic Games is much bigger than the other global events we have hosted as there are many venues needed for the various sporting codes.

Specialised arenas like velodromes, white water venues and sliding tracks cost billions. Once built, would they even be used afterwards?

You also have to have a main stadium for athletics and the opening and closing ceremonies. Are we able to upgrade Soccer City, or would you have to build a new state-of-the-art stadium?

It will come as a huge cost. Not only do we need hefty financial guarantees for such a big event, but our public transport is not up to scratch, new venues would have to be built and high levels of crime will once again put off potential visitors.

With millions of rands to be put down just to table a bid, we have to ask ourselves: do we really want to bid for an Olympics Games and be left with massive debt and white elephant venues in the aftermath? The first answer that comes to mind is no.