Durban selected as South Africa's primary Olympic candidate

South Africa announced on Thursday that Durban will serve as the preferred city for its bid to host the first Olympic Games in Africa. Lwandile Simelane, the acting president of the South African Olympic committee, made the designation public in Johannesburg. The country is competing for the right to stage either the 2036 or 2040 Summer and Paralympic events.

Simelane stated that the bid will likely operate as a multi-city effort. While Durban is the main candidate, the plan proposes holding specific events in other locations. This structure aims to distribute the logistical burden across the nation's infrastructure. The decision reflects a strategic approach to managing the scale of the international competition.

Johannesburg and Cape Town were also evaluated as potential candidate cities. Both are major economic centers in the country. However, the committee selected Durban, which ranks as the nation's third-largest city, as the lead venue for the proposal. The choice centers on the port city's existing facilities and coastal geography.

Durban has been a candidate for Olympic hosting for more than a decade. The city emerged as a possibility after South Africa hosted the 2010 soccer World Cup, the first such tournament held on the African continent. Officials noted that cost concerns prevented a formal bid from materializing during that earlier period. The committee is now advancing the proposal with a focus on fiscal planning.

Officials indicated that they do not yet have specific estimates for the total cost of staging the Games if the bid succeeds. The International Olympic Committee will select the host city for the 2036 Games in mid-2029. South Africa is one of seven nations currently in the running for that year. The other contenders are India, Qatar, South Korea, Germany, Hungary, and Turkey. The IOC set October 31 as the deadline for national committees to formally declare their interest.