The Minister for Youth and Sport plans big – and talks big. For Ashraf Sobhy, Egypt belongs at the top of the sports pyramid, and only there. “We are able to host any global sporting event,” said the 53-year-old. The necessary documents for an application for the 2036 Summer Games will be submitted to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
According to Said Sadek, the sports minister’s announcement is more than hot air. “It’s not just media advertising, there’s real will behind it,” says the Egyptian scientist, who teaches political sociology at the American University in Cairo. Egypt is expected to become one of the leading economies in the Middle East by 2030, competing with countries like Turkey and Qatar, Sadek told DW: “If Qatar managed to win the 2022 World Cup, then it should Egypt – the ancient country whose economy is growing – will also not be far from organizing international events like the Olympic Games.”
As early as July 2018, shortly after Minister of Sport Sobhy had been appointed to the government, he had announced that he wanted to bring the 2030 World Cup and the 2032 Olympic Games to Egypt. The chance of the World Cup still exists because the tournament has not yet been awarded in eight years. But the 2032 Olympic train headed towards Brisbane in Australia, a bit too fast for the Egyptian sports pyramid builder. Then 2036. Egypt would be the first African host in Olympic history.
Better chance for African applicants
“The rules of the game have changed, for example with the IOC’s Agenda 2020,” sports scientist Kamilla Swart-Arries told DW. The South African, who works at Hamad bin Khalifa University in Doha, Qatar, is an internationally recognized expert on major sporting events. According to Swart, equality of opportunity in the award process has not yet been fully established, but in the meantime it is “more likely for an African city to be successful with an application”. African countries also appeared “more determined to ensure that the fifth [olympische – Anm. d. Red.] ring is unfolded by a city or country from Africa”.
Cape Town was awarded nothing when it came to the 2004 Olympics, but was the venue for the 2010 World Cup
Egypt is not lacking in determination. African cities applied for the summer games five times and four times they came from Egypt. The port city of Alexandria lost out three times: in the elections for the 1916 Games – which were canceled due to the First World War – and 1936, both against Berlin, and against Tokyo, which hosted the 1940 Games. In the race for the 2008 Olympics, Cairo failed in the pre-selection. The only non-Egyptian applicant from Africa so far was the South African metropolis of Cape Town, which still managed to come third in the 2004 games.
Host of many major events
According to Sports Minister Sobhy, Egypt has the backing of ANOKA, the Association of African National Olympic Committees, for the announced Olympic bid. The country has shown in recent years that it is capable of hosting major events in Olympic sports. In 2017 and 2021, Cairo hosted the World Modern Pentathlon Championships. In 2019, football-mad Egypt hosted the “Africa Cup of Nations” for the fourth time, and the country is the record winner of the continental championship with seven victories. At the beginning of 2021, Egypt – in the middle of the corona pandemic – set the stage for the Handball World Cup. And next summer, the Fencing World Championships are on the program in Cairo.
Egypt’s new capital – huge construction site in the middle of the desert
According to the government, the Olympic Games are to be held in 14 years’ time in Egypt’s new administrative capital, which has been under construction since 2015 under the leadership of Chinese construction companies almost 50 kilometers east of Cairo. The costs are estimated at the equivalent of around 45 billion euros. In the end, 6.5 million people are expected to live in the desert city, which has not yet been named. The first ministries are just moving into their new quarters. A large sports complex, the “International Olympic City”, is also being built in the city from the drawing board. A hall for 7,500 spectators has already been used for games in the 2021 Handball World Cup. The highlight of the sports area is to be an arena for more than 90,000 spectators, which would become the Olympic Stadium if the contract were awarded in 2036.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi regularly checks the progress of the construction work in person on site. For the general, who seized power in 2013 with the help of the military, the new capital is a prestige project. Al-Sisi never tires of describing the emerging city as a sign of a “new era” in Egyptian history. The first Olympic Games on African soil would fit in perfectly with this, ideally garnished with many successes by Egyptian athletes.
Olympic support program
Karate fighter Feryal Abdelaziz was hailed as the first Egyptian woman to win gold at the Tokyo 2021 games. Altogether, Egyptian athletes won six medals: one gold, one silver and four bronze. Despite the highest number of medals so far at the Summer Games, according to Sports Minister Sobhy, there is still room for improvement. The country was finally represented in Tokyo with 136 athletes, more than ever before.
Cheers as gold medalist Feryal Abdelaziz returns from the Tokyo Olympics
The government has launched the “Olympic Champions” program to identify and support talent in Olympic sports. “The results are promising,” Sobhy told the Egyptian newspaper “Daily News”: “The fruits will be harvested at the Olympic Games in 2024 and 2028.”
However, there is still no sign of enthusiasm for the Olympics or even euphoria in Egypt. “There is not yet much awareness of the Olympic bid because there is still a long way to go until 2036,” says political scientist Said Sadek. “So far, the topic hasn’t been addressed in the media or discussed controversially in public. Maybe that will change when we get closer to the event and the concrete costs are also on the table.”
problematic human rights situation
Another stumbling block for the Egyptian bid for the 2036 Games could be the human rights situation in the country, which according to organizations such as Human Rights Watch or Amnesty International has steadily deteriorated under President Al-Sisi. “When I talk about challenges in relation to Egypt, the human rights concerns come to mind,” says sports scientist Swart-Arries. “On the other hand, for me it’s about seeing the positives in the games: how can you use them as an opportunity to address problems and correct things?”
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