Jakarta, IO – Chairman of the Indonesian Olympics Committee Raja Sapta “Okto” Oktohari has declared that Indonesia is ready to host the 2036 Olympics, concurring with President Joko Widodo’s earlier statement that Indonesia will be participating in the bidding to host the event.
Indonesia will be competing with Qatar, who has also declared their readiness to host the 2036 Olympics, after it successfully hosted the 2022 World Cup. The Gulf country has previously proposed itself to host the Olympics three times – in 2016, 2020, and 2032, losing each time to Brazil, Japan, and Australia, respectively. Other than Qatar and Indonesia, Egypt, Mexico, and Turkiye have also expressed their interest in hosting the 2036 Olympics.
Indonesia, for its part, has also proposed itself as the host for the 2032 Olympics, but lost out to Australia. On 24 February 2021, the International Olympics Committee (“IOC”) bestowed the status of “priority host bidder” to Brisbane, Australia, and officially declared it the winning host city on 21 July 2021.
“We have excellent relations with Qatar, so we’re not viewing this as a competition,” Okto stated to the media at the Olympics Committee Office, Senayan, Jakarta, Thursday 22 December. “We have had multiple friendly communications with our Qatari counterpart about the issue. As we’re both determined to host the Olympics, we decided to do our best and let the best country win.”