Durban chosen to lead South Africa's 2036 or 2040 Olympic bid

South Africa has selected Durban as its preferred candidate city for a bid to stage the 2036 or 2040 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, according to reporting published by the Guardian on Thursday. A successful bid would bring the Olympics to Africa for the first time, although the announcement identifies South Africa's choice rather than an international host selection.

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Lwandile Simelane, acting president of the South African Olympic committee, announced that the east-coast city would lead the country's proposal. Durban is South Africa's third-largest city. Johannesburg, the country's economic hub, and Cape Town were also considered before the decision to put Durban forward as the main candidate for the national bid.

The proposal may extend beyond Durban itself. Simelane said it would probably involve multiple cities, with some events proposed for locations elsewhere in South Africa. That remains a likely approach rather than a confirmed allocation of competitions. Durban's selection as the principal candidate therefore does not mean that every Olympic or Paralympic event would necessarily take place there.

The International Olympic Committee is due to select the 2036 host in mid-2029, the Guardian reported. It has set 31 October as the deadline for national Olympic committees to formally express interest in bidding for those Games. South Africa is one of seven countries pursuing the 2036 edition, alongside India, Qatar, South Korea, Germany, Hungary and Turkey.

Durban has previously been discussed as a possible Olympic host. The idea was raised more than a decade ago after South Africa staged the 2010 football World Cup, the first edition of that tournament held in Africa. Those earlier discussions did not produce an official Olympic bid, with concerns about the costs a major reason the proposal failed to advance.

Funding requirements remain unresolved in the latest effort. Officials said on Thursday that they could not yet supply estimates for what hosting the Olympics would cost South Africa if its bid succeeded. The city choice establishes who will lead the proposal, but both the possible involvement of other cities and the eventual expense remain open questions ahead of the international selection process.