The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has confirmed that officials have opened a dialogue with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on the prospect of hosting the 2030 Youth Olympic Games (YOG) or the 2036 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The confirmation was made in an official statement designed to ward off an emerging scandal that it fears could derail those efforts.
At the IOC’s all-members Session held in Mumbai last October India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned in his remarks that India would be bidding to host the 2036 Olympics.
But bids to host the Games must be made by the representing national Olympic committee, and a further statement made made in an IOA press release Sunday represented the first time the project was made official.
“The IOA is in active dialogue with the Future Host Commission of the IOC regarding hosting the 2030 Youth Olympics and the 2036 Olympic Games in India as per the vision of the Honorable Prime Minister,” the statement posted by the IOA on X (formerly Twitter) read.
The statement was issued, however, to clarify local reporting about an alleged scandal regarding the appointment of IOA CEO Raghuram Iyer last month that Executive Council members now oppose due to a substantial salary package awarded, according to The Times of India. Per to the report, the EC members have issues with negotiations conducted by IOA president PT Usha who allegedly has no authority to finalize salaries. They contend that the former Indian Olympic track star’s activity was illegal and lacked transparency and good governance.
The report cites sources suggesting the EC has declared the CEO’s appointment ‘null and void’, but Usha maintains Raghuram will stay on board.
In its statement, the IOA said the report was “misleading” and “published without verifying the facts.”
“We would like to highlight that such misleading and unsubstantiated articles tarnish the image of the IOA and may result in derailing the aspirations of India’s bid to host the 2030 Youth Olympics and 2036 Olympic Games.”
Press release 🚨 pic.twitter.com/wBAAMGNWDH
— Team India (@WeAreTeamIndia) February 4, 2024
The IOA is no stranger to governance issues. In 2022 the IOA president was expelled and an interim leader appointed indefinitely. The organization was warned by the IOC that it must hold a democratic election for a new president or face suspension. As a consequence, the IOC Session that was to be held in Mumbai in May 2023 was postponed until a new president was duly elected. Usha was elected in December 2022 and the IOC rescheduled the Session for October.
In 2012 the IOA was suspended due to government interference in its elections, contrary to the Olympic Charter. That left India without Olympic recognition until the IOA was reinstated in 2014 during the Sochi Winter Games.
India has been developing plans to stage the Olympics for several months with stakeholders in Ahmedabad already drawing up a masterplan to compete at the domestic level where no host region has been confirmed. Officials had first discussed plans with IOC President Thomas Bach in 2018 to host the 2026 Youth Olympics and 2032 Olympics but that timeline was delayed after the COVID-19 pandemic pushed the Dakar 2022 YOG to 2026 and Brisbane was awarded the 2032 Games unopposed under new IOC bidding rules.
The IOC doesn’t discuss which regions are involved in ongoing discussions with its Future Host Commissions, but has recently suggested parties interested in hosting future editions are in the ‘double digits’. There are no set schedules for elections but the 2036 host is not expected to be chosen before 2026.
