Indonesia's 2036 Olympic bid to centre on new capital Nusantara
Baku, August 10, AZERTAC
Indonesia's new capital city will be the focus of the country's bid for the 2036 Olympic and Paralympic Games, according to insidethegames.biz.
President Joko Widodo confirmed Nusantara will be proposed to stage the Olympics and the Government has committed to building sports facilities there to boost its infrastructure. This includes a new national training base for football.
The firm focus on the new capital - which is still being built - has been welcomed by the Indonesian Olympic Committee (KOI).
"We welcome the direction of the President to continue the offer IKN [National Capital City] for 2036 Olympics bidding," KOI President Raja Sapta Oktohari said.
"We will carry out this task and work hard to be the first ASEAN country to host the Olympics."
Indonesia had been seeking to stage the 2032 Olympics, but lost out to Brisbane in the first race awarded under the new process whereby an International Olympic Committee (IOC) Future Host Commission engages in dialogue with interested parties before making a recommendation to the Executive Board.
Brisbane was recommended, given the green light by the Executive Board and then the only candidate put before the IOC Session in Tokyo.
The new process has faced criticism from some quarters over a lack of transparency. The KOI is already discussing 2036 with the Future Host Commission, according to Oktohari.
"We are already in the status of ongoing dialogue in the bidding process, and we will continue because of the current IOC format for permanent dialogue," Oktohari said.
"This was stated by IOC President Thomas Bach when I met at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the Indonesian leadership must continue the bidding process for the Olympics because the process is still ongoing.
"With IKN as the venue, we are optimistic because one of the points that will be assessed is the venue for the master plan to sustainability and legacy."
Indonesia has staged or is due to stage multi-sport events in a variety of locations, and until now it was unclear where would be centre of the country's Olympic ambitions.
Jakarta and Palembang staged the 2018 Asian Games, the largest multi-sport event outside of the Olympics. They have also staged the Southeast Asian Games together, plus Jakarta has held that event alone. Palembang was the host for the 2013 Asian Solidarity Games. Next year, Bali is timetabled to host the Association of National Olympic Committees World Beach Games.
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