Indonesian Olympic officials have entered the New Year with a clear strategy to ramp up its fledgling 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games bid and to reduce the early lead taken by Australian rivals in the race.
Indonesian Olympic Committee (KOI) Chief Raja Sapta Oktohari said in Jakarta Tuesday that his nations’ athletes a preparing for a good showing at the Tokyo 2020 Games beginning in July, and his team will build an “Indonesian Village” in Tokyo that will be leveraged to campaign for the 2032 Games.
Oktohari, who met with International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach in Lausanne in December to discuss these initiatives, said he has received permission from the IOC and the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) to carry out the plans during the Summer Games.
“There we will campaign and show a picture Indonesia in 2032, and we are confident enough that in 2032 we will be entrusted to host the Olympics,” Oktohari said.
“We will build an Indonesian Village that will work with ministries and stakeholders from Indonesia, especially from the youth and sports ministry and tourism ministry.”
Oktohari said he received encouragement from IOC officials who explained the changes to the bid process that were approved at the June 2019 IOC Session.
I m so excited with my initial visit to IOC. It will be more often after this toward our goals to bid for Olympic and Paralympic 2032 in Indonesia. Wish us luck all 😄🙏 #indonesiaforolympic¶lympic2032
— Raja Sapta Oktohari (@rajasaptaokto) December 16, 2019
“This time there is no contest bidding but there is assistance,” he said.
“So that we will communicate intensively with the IOC to prepare for the Olympics.
“Therefore, we both have a commitment and we ask for the support of all Indonesian people.”
The IOC has dropped the traditional bidding wars of the the past that resulted in grandiose plans with understated budgets that were not sustainable. In the past decade, many cities dropped out of the race responding to public fears over the costs and risks of hosting the event.
Instead of a race, new IOC future host commissions will vet interested candidates and propose qualified options to the IOC Executive Board. There is no set timetable for this process, but officials behind an Australian bid from South-east Queensland are moving quickly with the hope that a decision will be made as early as 2021 – leaving little time for other bids to catch up.
Australian officials met with the IOC late last year and are already working towards submitting a complete application ahead of the Tokyo Games.
But Oktohari, who was elected President of his organization in October, insists the race is still wide open. Last February Indonesian President Joko Widodo submitted a letter-of-interest to Bach on the heels of the successful Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games in 2018.
Bid delegates plan to leverage the legacy of the Jarkarta 1962 Asian Games and the more recent 2018 Asian Games to demonstrate to the IOC that sustainability is important and Indonesians are able to maintain and continue to use sport venues long after the events have ended.
There has also been interest from Germany, India and jointly between North and South Korea in hosting the Games in 2032.
After Tokyo, Paris is set to stage the Games in 2024 and Los Angeles will be the site in 2028.
