IOC chief Bach expects Qatar to bid for Olympics

IOC president Thomas Bach visited Aspire Academy ahead of ANOC General Assembly starting todayInternational Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach has said he expects Qatar will bid to host the Summer Olympics in the future.“The procedure for the next Olympic Games is underway and I can imagine one day Qatar would be a candidate for hosting the Olympic Games,” said Bach.He was speaking in Doha, the venue for the Association of National Olympic Committee’s General Assembly, which begins today.Last month, the president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), Sebastian Coe, said a Qatari Summer Olympics was possible.And he added that Olympic bosses could move the games to later in the calendar year if Qatar ever successfully bids to host the Games, to avoid its fierce summer heat.Earlier this year Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) secretary-general Dr Thani al-Kuwari had said Qatar had a ‘vision” to host the Olympics one day.“We have a vision and a target, which is to host the Olympic Games one day,” Dr al-Kuwari told the media on the sidelines of the International Sports Press Association (AIPS) Congress at the Sheraton Hotel.Doha first bid for the 2016 Games which was won by Rio de Janeiro and then the 2020 Games, which went to Tokyo. Qatar let the deadline to bid for the 2024 event pass in September, which means Doha can now only hope to host the quadrennial sporting showpiece in 2028, or later.Dr al-Kuwari said the infrastructure being developed for the IAAF World Championships in 2019, the FIFA World Cup in 2022 and the 2023 FINA World Swimming Championships means Qatar would have much of the facilities in place when it bids for the Games in the future.Qatar has already started work on eight FIFA World Cup stadiums, and with the construction of the metro and several expressways in full swing, the infrastructure part of the Games would be well taken care of.“All the stadiums and the facilities are going to be ready for everything, especially for the World Cup in 2022. These can be used for the Olympics.“Also, the logistics for those facilities are being completed, so why not? So we are hoping to have (the Olympics) one day, you never know, maybe in 2028.“It’s true that Qatar hosts a number of important sporting events and we are proud of this fact, but this is part of a larger plan, which is to focus on our youth and help them develop into fine individuals in accordance with the Qatar National Vision 2030 which was set in motion in 2008.”