South Africa bids to host Olympics in 2020
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The road to bid for Durban has been a long one. In 2008, the IOC selected Durban as a venue for the IOC General Assembly's Congress, due to take place next year.
Acting chief executive of Durban Tourism Perry Moodley intimated that hosting the event was a tactical move in light of the city's plans to bid to host a summer Olympics.
He said that getting the Olympic decision-makers from around the world to Durban was important.
One of the most important long-term legacies of the FIFA World Cup was for infrastructure upgrades.
Durban's new Moses Mabhida Stadium, which was built specifically for the soccer spectacular, can easily be converted into an 85,000-seat athletics venue and is part of the multi-sport Kings Park Sporting precinct.
Government is expected to meet with city officials next month to decide if a formal bid is to be submitted.
Bids from interested cities will only be considered in July 2011, when they will be submitted to the IOC.
On Wednesday, Durban City Manager, Michael Sutcliffe, told Xinhua that Durban's successful hosting of several World Cup matches cemented its reputation as Africa's events capital and is confident that Durban will win the bid.
"Over the past five years, development in the city have been organized around our '2010 and beyond' strategy. This has entailed ensuring that whatever we do for the World Cup is geared to also be in line with our post-2010 plans," he said.
He added that it would be "great" to host the Olympics, Commonwealth Games or World Championship Athletics, all of which Africa deserves to host.
He said that support for the World Cup games played in the province had been "overwhelming".
"Moses Mabhida stadium has space for an athletics track. We have ensured that everything we plan and develop must fit our long-term plans," he said.
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