Can India host the Olympics?

The recent and successful FIFA Football World Cup in Qatar has created a desire within India for hosting mega-events like the Olympic Games. It would certainly be a big statement of India’s prowess if it can successfully host a sporting event of this magnitude. Prime Minister Narendra Modi acknowledged the popularity of the FIFA World Cup at a public rally he addressed in Meghalaya on December 18 2022[1], the day of the World Cup Final, that India too will host a World Cup in the near future.

Despite the massive financial outlay of $220 billion[2], criticism ahead of the tournament on how it won the bid and the negative Western media coverage of its human rights record, Qatar successfully pulled off the World Cup and enhanced its global reputation. China too grew in stature when it hosted the Summer Olympics in 2008, sending a message to the world that a superpower was on its way. More recently China hosted the 2022 Winter Olympic Games while the coronavirus pandemic was ongoing. The event became a platform to demonstrate to the world, the country’s ability to pull off a mega event in challenging circumstances under the leadership of Xi Jingping.[3]

India has not officially registered any interest in hosting the Football World Cup, a tournament it has never participated in. India did host the Under-17 editions of the men’s and women’s FIFA World Cup in 2017 and 2022 respectively. The 2017 edition was seen as a pivotal step in the country’s journey towards hosting major sports events[4]. Now some serious interest has been evinced in hosting the Summer Olympics in 2036 at the Sardar Vallabhai Patel Sports Enclave in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.[5]

Hosting a mega sports event is expensive – and increasingly so. According to economist Andrew Zimbalist writing in his book Circus Maximus: The Economic Gamble Behind Hosting the Olympics and the World Cup, only two Olympics, Los Angeles in 1984 and Barcelona in 1992, registered a profit. “Much of the alleged legacy,” he says, “comes in the form of qualitative gains and the rest comes from very long periods of time.”[6] Sports events also leave behind white elephants built at huge expense but remain unused after the completion of the event. India has faced its fair share of problems with “white elephants” left over from the 2010 Commonwealth Games held in New Delhi, the principal example being the iconic Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the main venue of the 2010 Commonwealth Games which was renovated at a cost of ₹961 crores.[7] It has not hosted an athletics event since 2018.

India also has limited experience in hosting mega sports events. The two Under-17 World Cups were not senior level competitions and the larger 1982 Asian Games and the 2010 Commonwealth Games barely made any impact at home or abroad.

Nonetheless India can certainly be ambitious and if it is to win the bid for the Olympics in 2036, these are the five things India needs to do:

Have a clearly defined vision and purpose: When China hosted the 2008 Olympics, it was about a striving superpower showcasing itself in all its glory to the world. For South Africa hosting the 2010 FIFAWorld Cup, one of the biggest objectives was projecting itself as a country that had overcome its apartheid past.[8] For India which wants to showcase its superpower ambitions, hosting the Olympics will be a perfect global platform.

Improve position in the medal tally: The Olympics have more than 30 sports and there are a good number of them where India doesn’t have sufficient representation, if any at all. The country’s top-end expertise has won it medals in only seven sports in its Olympic history[9]. i.e. shooting, badminton, wrestling, boxing, archery, hockey and weightlifting. To become a nation that finishes in the Top 10 of the medal tally, a win of more than 10 golds and 30-35 medals overall is necessary. India must identify and focus on sports such as fencing, gymnastics and swimming which offer a large number of medals in the Olympics.

Host more mega sports events: India’s previous hosting of the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games does stand it in good stead, but those events are now decades ago – 1982 and 2010 respectively. Since then, sport has seen dramatic changes. Hosting big sports events in the interim – like the 2030 or 2034 Commonwealth Games – will help India familiarise itself with sport today, and help in assessing the country’s preparedness for the 2036 Olympics. Practice makes perfect.

Increase the sports budget between now to the bidding/hosting period: India’s sports allocation in the 2022-23 Union Budget was only ₹3062 crores ($377 million)[10]. The last three Summer Olympics in London, Rio De Janeiro and Tokyo cost $13-15 billion each (with Tokyo’s final costs due to the Covid delay estimated at $28 billion). If India is serious about hosting the Olympics, it must expand the sports budget to at least ₹10,000 crores in the next two to three years, to be part of the league of sporting nations.

A legacy plan post the Olympics: All host countries are faced with excessive infrastructure and training facilities after a mega event and a plan is needed to use it to best long-term advantage. An example of this is, London, which built its main venue, the London Stadium for £486 million[11]. The stadium now serves as the home ground of the English Premier League club, West Ham United[12].

Shakya Mitra is Sports Industry professional, Confederation of Sports and Recreation Industry

This article was exclusively written for Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations. You can read more exclusive content here

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References

[1] Our Government is working with ‘DevINE’ intentions: PM Modi in Meghalaya, official website of PM Narendra Modi, December 18 2022 <https://www.narendramodi.in/text-of-prime-minister-narendra-modi-s-address-at-launch-of-various-development-works-in-shillong-meghalaya-566528>

[2] The First World Cup in the Middle East, Center for International and Regional Studies, Georgetown University Qatar, 2022 <https://cirs.qatar.georgetown.edu/research/research-initiatives/building-legacy-qatar-fifa-world-cup-2022/1-first-world-cup-middle/>

[3] Optimisation of Covid-19 prevention and control measures during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics: a model-based study, Lingcai Kong, Mengwei Duan et al, Infectious Diseases of Poverty, 2022 <https://idpjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40249-022-01019-2>

[4] Cabinet approves signing of guarantees for hosting Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Under-17 Women’s World Cup 2022 in India, Press Information Bureau, September 14 2022 <https://pib.gov.in/Pressreleaseshare.aspx?PRID=1859190>

[5] Union HM reviews the preliminary preparations for the 2036 Olympics to be held in Gujarat, Chief Minister’s Office Gujarat, January 15 2023 <https://cmogujarat.gov.in/en/latest-news/union-hm-reviews-the-preliminary-preparations-for-the-2036-olympics-to-be-held-in-gujarat>

[6] Circus Maximus: The Economic Gamble Behind Hosting the Olympics and the World Cup, Andrew Zimbalist, Brookings Institution Press, 2016.

[7] Official website of Sports Authority of India <https://saijobs.sportsauthorityofindia.gov.in/showimg.asp?ID=248>

[8] Sports as cultural diplomacy: the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa’s foreign policy, Sifiso Mxolisi Ndlovu, Soccer in Society, 2010 <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14660970903331466>

[9] Indian Olympic medal winners: A comprehensive list, Rahul Venkat, Official Olympic website, August 12 2021 <https://olympics.com/en/news/india-olympics-medals>

[10] Union Budget 2022-23, Ministry of Finance <https://www.indiabudget.gov.in/doc/eb/sbe102.pdf>

[11] LLDC’S Finances during the Covid-19 crisis, London Assembly, January 2021

london_assembly_-_lldc_report_-_january_2021

[12] Official Website of the London Stadium <https://www.london-stadium.com/stadium/about.html>