Nairobi Plans To Bid For 2024 Olympics

Kenya’s capital Nairobi is planning to bid for the 2024
Olympics and become the first African city to host the Games, the prime minister
said yesterday.

“Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, speaking at the Kenya
National House, announced that the Republic of Kenya will be starting the
process of pitching to host the Games of the 33rd Olympiad in 2024,” a Kenya
House announcement said.

“If successful, these Games will be the first ever held in
Africa.”

The International Olympic Committee will elect the 2024 host
city in 2017, with official campaigning to start two years earlier.

There have been African bids in the past, most recently with
Egypt’s Cairo unsuccessfully bidding for the 2008 Olympics that were awarded to
Beijing.

South Africa’s Cape Town had also bidded for the 2004 Games,
staged by Athens. The country did, however, host the 2010 soccer World Cup, the
first to be held on the African continent.

The 2016 Olympics will be held in Rio de Janeiro – the first
in South America – while Tokyo, Madrid and Istanbul are bidding for the 2020
Games, with a decision to be taken next year.