With the Beijing Games fresh on their minds, aspiring cities across the globe feel increased enthusiasm to play host one day to the Olympic Games. A natural question on the minds of Gulf leaders and observers will be if – and when – a Gulf city will host the Olympics and capture the world’s attention as raptly as Beijing has. While GCC cities certainly have some of the elements needed to host the Games, Gulf leaders will need to reflect carefully on whether hosting the Olympics truly fits with their overall development strategies.
One key element required to host the Games – capital for investment in infrastructure – is available in the Gulf today more than almost anywhere else in the world. Several Gulf economies – and in particular the UAE, Qatar, and Kuwait – enjoy unprecedented surpluses and are engaging in large-scale infrastructure projects (e.g. airports, roads, and utilities) like never before. Gulf cities are better equipped than many of their counterparts around the world to build the stadiums, housing, and other facilities needed to host the Games.
Gulf cities also have a “location advantage”: at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, the GCC is easy to reach and its timezones are compatible with a large chunk of the global Olympic viewer base. For the most part, Europeans struggled to watch the Beijing Games live and in the US the time difference was a full 12-15 hours. The GCC, by contrast, is only 1-2 hours ahead of Western European time and a manageable difference from much of Asia.
Further, several Gulf cities have clear and demonstrated aspirations to raise their profiles on the world stage and might therefore see hosting the Olympic Games as helpful. This is particularly true of Doha, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi. As host of a watershed 2001 WTO summit and the 2006 Asian Games, Doha raised its profile significantly and signaled to the world – especially through the Asian Games – its rapid growth and development.
Despite these strengths, there are a number of reasons why Gulf cities may not find the role of Olympic host consistent with their development strategies. One is the question of how sporting facilities would be utilized after the Olympics: the total Gulf population is about 40 million, and the most likely host counties (the UAE, Qatar, and Kuwait) have populations below 5 million. For countries with populations less than half of New York City’s, the long-term need for massive stadiums is not immediately evident.
A second issue is that Gulf countries have a limited Olympic tradition. Despite Bahrain’s one gold medal in the 2008 Games, GCC countries have not been at the forefront of Olympic competition as larger nations of the world have been. Some might argue that Gulf states would need to build a deeper Olympic presence before seeking to host the event.
Third, the full scrutiny that comes with Olympic attention may not be desirable for GCC states. As evident surrounding the Beijing Games, hosting the Olympics exposes a country to both wanted and unwanted publicity from a wide range of perspectives. In pursuing the Games, potential host counties need to weigh whether this scrutiny is indeed worth inviting.
In some respects, Gulf cities could potentially mount impressive bids for hosting the Olympics in future decades. What’s less clear, however, is whether hosting the Games truly fits with GCC cities’ long-term aspirations.