Will Dubai bring the Olympics here?

Will Dubai bring the Olympics here?

The city has formed a committee with several high-profile members to discuss Dubai’s chances of hosting the Olympics in 2020.

November 3, 2009 1:09 by Aarti Nagraj

Dubai has started working towards its bid for the Olympics in 2020; the organizing committee held its meeting on Monday to discuss the bid. The meeting was attended by Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, reported official news agency, WAM.

“Nothing is impossible as long as we have the determination for change, not change of determination,” Sheikh Mohammed told the group members. He also told the group to “work as a one team” to help the UAE to win the Olympic bid, says the report.

Dubai is taking the bid quite seriously; the committee has several high profile members including Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum, chairman of Abu Dhabi Civil Aviation Authority, Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, chairman of the Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum Foundation and head of the UAE Olympic Committee, Abdul Rahman Mohammed al-Owais, Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development, and several heads of government departments.

But it will not be an easy process; Dubai is up against established cities around the world, including Delhi, Cape Town, Durban, Rome, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, among others.

African cities will be especially difficult to compete with since the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) decision to appoint Rio de Janerio as the host of the 2016 Olympics has widely encouraged officials there.

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Tags: 2020, bid, challenges, committee, Doha, Dubai, olympics