African athletes produced breathtaking performances at the 2024 Olympic Games, held in July and August this year. Letsile Tebogo, Beatrice Chebet, and Tatjana Smith were among the many standout performers in Paris, France. But even amid the struggles, joy, near-misses, raw emotions and all that comes with the Olympic games, it wasn’t lost on us that Africa is the only continent that has never hosted the games.
Beatrice Chebet celebrates after winning the women’s 5000m at the 2024 Paris Games. Photo by Ben Stansall. Source: Getty Images The current crop of athletes might not participate in an Olympics on African soil, given that the next Olympics will be held in Los Angeles in 2028 before heading Down Under in Brisbane, Australia, four years later. Egypt and South Africa have already expressed interest in hosting the 2036 games.
The IOC has already welcomed the idea of the latter hosting the games, but it is easier said than done. South Africa looks like a perfect place to host the games, given the country’s previous experience hosting big events—the 2010 FIFA World Cup comes to mind. However, the Olympics are a different ball game, given that all the sports are held in one city, with only a few outsourced to nearby towns depending on infrastructure.
by Martin Moses
