Poland will bid to host the 2036 Summer Olympics, the country’s president, government and Olympic committee have announced. It will be up against Mexico, Indonesia and Turkey, which have already unveiled official bids, while India, China and Egypt have also expressed interest.
“After holding consultations, it is our ambition to start efforts to hold the Summer Olympics in 2036,” announced President Andrzej Duda. “Our country is developing dynamically. We are convinced that by 2036 we will be ready to implement such a project in terms of infrastructure.”
He noted in particular that a new mega-airport and rail hub the government is building in central Poland is due to be completed in time for Poland to potentially host the 2036 games.
‼️ OFICJALNIE: 🇵🇱 Polska będzie ubiegać się o organizację Letnich Igrzysk Olimpijskich w 2036 roku! Decyzję tę ogłosili podczas II Europejskiego Kongresu Sportu i Turystyki @prezydentpl @AndrzejDuda oraz minister sportu i turystyki @KamilBortniczuk. pic.twitter.com/DcDS6vKGZB
— Ministerstwo Sportu i Turystyki (@SPORT_GOV_PL) September 27, 2023
The largest international sporting event hosted by Poland to date was the 2012 European Football Championships, although that was co-hosted with neighbouring Ukraine. This year, the city of Kraków and its surrounding region hosted the European Games.
“For my part, I can promise that we will do everything to organise these [Olympic] games in Poland,” said Radosław Piesiewicz, president of the Polish Olympic Committee, today.
He also pledged that, with continued investment and reform, Poland “will be able to fight for 36 medals” at the 2036 games. At the last Olympics, in Tokyo, Poland won 14 medals and at each of the three previous ones – in Rio de Janeiro, London and Beijing – it won 11.
Its best performance – 32 medals – came at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. But those games were boycotted by 66 countries, led by the United States, due to the Soviet-Afghan war.
Before #Tokyo2020, David Tomala worked as a builder and was trained for free by his father.
Now, after winning a shock gold medal at a distance he had never previously competed in, the 31-year-old has a sponsorship deal to allow him to focus on his career https://t.co/cnOnN45Mbo
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) August 9, 2021
A letter from Duda formally declaring Poland’s bid for the games will be handed by Piesiewicz to Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, at a meeting on 6 October.
Next year’s Summer Olympics will be held in Paris, followed by Los Angeles in 2028 and Brisbane in 2032. So far, official bids for the 2036 games have been submitted by Nusantara in Indonesia, Istanbul in Turkey and Guadalajara-Mexico City-Monterrey-Tijuana in Mexico.
Other reported or rumoured bidders include Cairo in Egpyt (which would be Africa’s first host), Ahmedabad in India, Seoul in South Korea, Chengdu-Chongqing in China, Toronto-Montreal in Canada, and a possible joint bid by Germany and Israel to mark 100 years since the “Nazi Olympics” of 1936 in Berlin.
Poland has previously only applied once to host the Olympics, when Kraków and Zakopane bid for the 2006 Winter Games. However, they were eliminated in the first round of voting, with the Turin eventually winning hosting rights.
Russian and Belarusian athletes will be banned from this year’s European Games in Kraków, making Poland the first country to announce it will not comply with yesterday’s IOC recommendation that they be allowed to return to international competition https://t.co/PDRaXEFJH2
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) March 29, 2023
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: Kuba Atys / Agencja Gazeta
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
