Russia is considering 2036 Olympic Games bids from among ‘several’ cities across the nation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said while addressing Olympic medalists returning from Tokyo last week.
According to TASS, Lavrov stressed the urgency for interested Russian cities to come forward now if they hope to be considered.
“Several cities have already submitted their bids, so don’t drag out your time,” Lavrov said to officials while in the Rostov region.
“The bids are being prepared
“We have several cities – St. Petersburg for sure, and I believe Kazan as well.”
If a Russian city is nominated, it will join a crowded race that includes snubbed jurisdictions after Brisbane, Australia was named the preferred candidate and awarded the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games last month in Tokyo.
Bids from Jakarta in Indonesia and Ahmedabad in India have already named 2036 as their next target after failing for 2032. The Rhine-Ruhr region in Germany has also outlined a proposal to pursue the Games and a joint project from North and South Korea is reportedly still on the table.
London officials have identified interest in hosting a record fourth Games in 2036 and interest from Budapest in Hungary, Qatar and Turkey remain as spillover from 2032 campaigns.
Russia had expressed interest in hosting the 2032 Games when it had been the next available date following Paris in 2024 and Los Angeles in 2028, but the Russian Olympic Committee has been barred from entering a bid due to sanctions from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) after it was found the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (Rusada) manipulated data to cover up doping violations. Restrictions are expected to be lifted before the end of 2022.
Moscow hosted the 1980 Summer Olympics when it was capital of the Soviet Union, and Sochi in Russia staged the 2014 Winter Games.
There is no set timeline for the awarding of the Olympic Games. Instead, interested regions participate in ongoing dialogue with the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Future Host Commission until the right bid is identified and named the preferred candidate and placed in targeted dialogue. It is then up to the IOC’s Executive Board to further vet and approve the candidate for final acceptance by the IOC Session membership.
Traditionally Summer Games hosts have been selected seven years ahead of their opening ceremony but the previous two elections – for LA 2028 and Brisbane 2032 – have occurred with 11 years of lead time due to a changes in the process.
