WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland will tell the International Olympic Committee it wants to host the 2036 Summer Games, state president Andrzej Duda said Wednesday.
Duda announced the government-backed project less than three weeks before parliamentary elections on Oct. 15.
It follows Poland hosting the multi-sport 2023 European Games earlier this year with 7,000 athletes centered on Kraków.
Duda said Polish Olympic officials will soon present a letter of intent to IOC President Thomas Bach. The European Olympic Committees group meets Oct. 6-7 in Istanbul.
The European Olympic body said Wednesday it welcomed Poland’s interest to build on its European Games project.
“From everything the EOC saw there (at European Games), Poland is well qualified to host the Olympic Games too,” its executive committee member Hasan Arat said in a statement.
The IOC has set no timetable for picking a host for the 2036 Olympics and seems unlikely to make much progress in the next two years.
Bach’s 12-year presidential term limit expires in 2025 and the process of picking a 2036 host could be a key issue for his successor to oversee.
The 2036 Summer Games is the next available edition: Paris will host in 2024, Los Angeles in 2028 and Brisbane in 2032.
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
