SNOC: Hosting Olympics not on our cards
It is unlikely that Singapore and Malaysia will put in a joint-bid to host a summer Olympics in the near future.
That was the reply the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) gave yesterday, in response to Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) president Tunku Imran Tuanku Ja'afar's comments at the International Sports Forum yesterday in Kuala Lumpur.
The New Straits Times reported him as saying Malaysia is not ruling out a joint-bid with Singapore, although it will depend on the bidding process and cost.
"Of course, there have been preliminary talks because we have the infrastructure and, with the new bullet train to connect Malaysia and Singapore, it would make a lot of sense," Imran said at the forum.
"But it is still early days and I am not prepared to convince the Malaysian government to spend so much on the bid when that amount of money can be used for something else."
In response to queries by The New Paper, SNOC spokesman said: "While the Rio 2016 Olympic Games was a successful one for Singapore, hosting the Games is not on our cards right now as we are unable to meet the requirements and demands of organising an event of such magnitude."
Imran said the cost of a summer Olympic host city bid is from "US$3 million (S$4.23m) to US$6m".
The Malaysian sports official first mentioned the possibility of a joint-bid before an International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session in KL in 2015.
Singapore hosted the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in 2010, with 3,600 athletes across 26 sports.
More recently, the Republic hosted the South-east Asia Games in 2015, which had about 7,000 athletes and officials.
By contrast, the Olympics will involve more than 10,000 athletes from more than 200 National Olympic Committees.
Following the 2015 SEA Games, then-Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong said it would be "very hard" for the Republic to host a multi-sport event such as the Commonwealth or Asian Games in the near future, due to a lack of necessary infrastructure and space.
"I'm not ruling it out in the future. But if we look at where we are today, with the present infrastructure, to do the Commonwealth Games or Asian Games would be very hard."
An Olympic Games is larger in scale compared to both the Commonwealth Games and the Asiad.
If the two countries do decide to put in a bid, the earliest opportunity would be the 2028 Games; Los Angeles and Paris are vying to host the 2024 edition, with the winner to be announced at the IOC in Peru this September.
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