“I would like to announce, after consultations with the Polish Olympic Committee, with the minister of sport, and with the government, that our ambition and intention is to start efforts to organize the Summer Olympic Games in 2036,” President Andrzej Duda said in Zakopane.

Athletes compete in the women's 100-meter hurdles semifinals at the Tokyo Olympics on Aug. 1, 2021, at the National Stadium in Tokyo (first from the right: Klaudia Siciarz from Poland). Photo by PAP/Newscom

Poland which has never hosted the Summer or Winter Olympics - will compete against bids from Mexico (Guadalajara-Mexico City-Monterrey-Tijuana), Indonesia (Nusantara) and Turke (Istanbul).

The competition for the right to host the world's largest sporting event is also being considered by Egypt (Cairo), South Korea (Seoul), India (Ahmedabad), Qatar (Doha), Hungary (Budapest), Italy (Florence-Bologna), Denmark (Copenhagen), and, in the centenary of the Berlin Games, jointly by Germany and Israel.

Until now, Poland has only made one bid to host the Olympics - in 2006, the Winter Olympics were proposed to be held in Krakow and Zakopane. However, during the voting, members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) chose Turin in the first round of voting.

The next Summer Olympics will be held in Paris in 2024, followed by Los Angeles in 2028 and Brisbane, Australia in 2032.

(J)