South Africa Picks Durban as Candidate City for 2036 or 2040 Olympics

South Africa is bidding to host the 2036 or 2040 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, with Durban chosen as the country's preferred candidate city - a bid that, if successful, would bring the Games to Africa for the first time.

Lwandile Simelane, acting president of the South African Sports Confederation, Olympic and Paralympic Committee, announced the choice on Thursday. She said Durban would be the main candidate city but that the bid would likely be a "multi-city" proposal, with some events held elsewhere. Johannesburg and Cape Town were also considered.

Durban, a city of about 4 million on the subtropical Indian Ocean coast, was floated as a possible host more than a decade ago after South Africa staged the 2010 football World Cup, the first in Africa. No official bid materialised then, largely over cost concerns, and the city was later stripped of the 2022 Commonwealth Games for failing to make required financial guarantees.

Officials said Thursday they could not yet estimate the cost of staging the Olympics. The bid would centre on the 56,000-seat Moses Mabhida Stadium, built for the 2010 World Cup.

South Africa is among seven countries bidding for 2036, alongside India, Qatar, South Korea, Germany, Hungary and Turkiye. The IOC has set October 31 as the deadline for national Olympic committees to declare interest, with virtual presentations next month and a shortlist of candidates to be approved by the board in March. The host city for 2036 will be chosen in mid-2029.

Africa's biggest economy previously failed with a bid to stage the 2004 Games in Cape Town. The Youth Olympics open this weekend in Dakar, Senegal - the first Olympic sports event held in Africa.