India’s 2036 Olympic dream hits a pause. Know why

India’s plan to host the 2036 Summer Olympic Games faced a significant setback on Thursday (Jun 26) as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to pause the process of selecting future host nations, which will delay India’s hopes of securing the bid. This development was announced by Kirsty Coventry, the newly elected IOC president. Coventry, a former Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer from Zimbabwe, became the first woman and the first African to lead the influential sports governing body. During an online press conference, she stated that the IOC had decided to temporarily halt the bidding process and review its structure.

“There was overwhelming support from IOC members for a pause to be done and a review of the future host election process. We will be setting up a working group to look into this,” Coventry was quoted as saying after chairing her first executive board meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland.

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Despite the pause in host nation selection, Coventry confirmed that the planned meeting between the Indian delegation and IOC representatives will go ahead from June 30 to July 2. A high-level Indian delegation, including representatives from the Union government, the Gujarat state government and the Indian Olympic Association, is scheduled to present their case during this meeting in Lausanne.

The decision to pause comes just days ahead of this crucial meeting and it underlines uncertainty over the timeline for selecting host for 2036 Olympics.

Since 2019, the IOC has moved away from its traditional voting system, where members voted for host countries and adopted a new process focused on three aspects: flexibility, sustainability and cost-effectiveness. The goal is to make the Olympic Games fit the host region, not the other way around.

What is the new process for selecting the Olympic host?

During the 2019 IOC session in Lausanne, a new process was established for nations interested in hosting the Olympic Games. Initially, these nations engage in a 'continuous dialogue' with the IOC’s Future Hosts Commission (FHC) to discuss their vision, legacy and feasibility. Once significant progress is made in these discussions, the bid advances to the 'targeted dialogue' phase, where one or more countries are selected as preferred hosts.

The new system allows more freedom as nations can host the games across multiple cities or even co-host with other nations.