MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mexico launches bid to host 2036 Olympic Games

The first step would be the creation of a promotion committee, Ebrard explained

Mexico has submitted a bid to host the 2036 Summer Olympic Games. If that option is not possible then the Latin American country is also open to being awarded the 2040 competition.

Mexican Olympic Committee Chairwoman Maryjose Alcalá and Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard filed the proposal before International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach, it was reported.

“The road is not an easy one, but Mexico has always shown capacity and fortitude in this type of event,” Alcalá said while Bach pointed out that the IOC was pleased to know that the bid was endorsed by the Mexican government.

“Under Bach's baton, countries can participate without being indebted, without committing great economic feats, but with great organizational capacity and sustainability. We are on the way to hosting the Olympic Games in 2036. It shows that Mexico is on the right path,” Alcalá went on.

“Our goal is to bring the Olympic Games in 2036 or 2040 because that is how the system works,” said Ebrard, who missed the CELAC Foreign Ministers' Summit in Buenos Aires.

The venue for the 2036 Olympic Games is yet to be determined. After Tokyo 2020, held in 2021 due to COVID-19, the next Olympic Games will be Paris 2024, Los Angeles 2028, and Brisbane 2032.

Alcalá said a letter from Bach had been received in June, inviting Mexico to make a bid.

With the Games nearly 15 years away, Mexico's bid would be focused on next-generation athletes. “It is an initiative of the [Mexican Olympic Committtee] COM, but the indication I have is to support sports,” Ebrard explained.

Ebrard and Alcalá also assured that organizing the event would not entail an economic burden to the country. Ebrard went even further and reviewed the details of a financing scheme devised by the IOC.

The Foreign Minister, a likely candidate to succeed President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) in the next elections, announced that the first step would be the creation of a promotion committee, which will be made up of businessmen, scholars, and athletes.