(ATR) Add Ukraine to the list of countries interested in hosting one of the next two available Olympics.
"We are looking at 2030 and 2032," Vadym Hutsait, Ukraine’s Minister of Youth and Sports, told media outlet Suspilne Sport. "We believe in 10 years we will have development in the country, and we will be able to hold the Olympic Games."
"We are assessing where it will be held in Ukraine, how much it will cost. We are looking more at the Winter Olympics," Hutsait said, adding that there is also discussion about hosting the Youth Olympic Games since "the Olympics for adults is an ambitious goal".
Around the Rings is told that the process is at an early stage and that nothing definitive has been determined.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been pushing for a bid to host an Olympics since being elected in April 2019.
Ukraine’s only Olympic bid was a campaign for Lviv to host the 2022 Winter Games. That effort was abandoned in June 2014 amid political turmoil around the Russian invasion of Crimea. Beijing was awarded the 2022 Games 13 months later.
Should Ukraine move forward and submit an official bid for 2030, the country could face competition from 1972 hosts Sapporo, Japan, 2010 hosts Vancouver, and Barcelona and the Pyrenees Mountain region of Spain. Salt Lake City, the 2002 host, has submitted formal letters of interest to the IOC to bid for either the 2030 or 2034 Games.
As for 2032, so far Australia, Germany, India, Indonesia and Qatar have submitted bids. A joint Korean bid is also still a possibility as is another attempt from Madrid, Spain.
Written by Gerard Farek
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