(ATR) After months of speculation, the South African sports ministry confirms exclusively to Around the Rings that the country will not be bidding for the 2020 Olympics.
"We are not putting it [back]on the table. South Africa is not bidding for the 2020 Olympics," Paena Galane, a spokesman for sports minister Fikile Mbalula told ATR Wednesday.
Galane said there would be no reversal of the South African government's decision in May to sit out a bid for 2020.
"That position still stands. The 2020 issue has been closed," he added.
The South African Olympic Committee had held out slender hopes that the issue would be discussed at a Cabinet meeting today. NOC chiefs had accepted the government's earlier decision but thought that Mbalula might have reignited bid talks.
But Galane told ATR: "There is no Cabinet discussion on the 2020 Olympics this week. It is not going to be on any agenda."
Confirmation of the government's decision is a major blow to the South African Olympic Committee, which had been keen to launch a campaign to secure the Olympics on the heels of a successful IOC Session in Durban and the widely acclaimed 2010 FIFA World Cup. Durban was considered to be South Africa's strongest bid city prospect.
It's also a blow to IOC president Jacques Rogge who had hoped that South Africa would expand the 2020 bidding field, which includes only Istanbul, Madrid, Rome and Tokyo. Qatar has yet to announce whether there will be a bid from Doha.
NOC chief executive Tubby Reddy expressed disappointment after hearing that the government would not be revisiting the 2020 bid proposal.
"If they are sticking by their decision, there is not much we can do," he told ATR Wednesday.
In May, South Africa’s government balked on a bid because of the associated $50 million price tag. Instead, the government said it wanted to focus on delivering services to South Africans.
Asked whether a 2024 bid was possible, Reddy said: "It is still up to the government whether they are going to revisit it."
Doha Quiet on 2020 Bid
Still no word from the Qatar Olympic Committee on whether Doha will mount a second Olympic bid following its failed attempt to secure the 2016 Games.
With 15 days until the IOC's Sept. 1 deadline for NOCs to nominate applicant cities, a decision rests with the Gulf state's government and is expected very soon.
Reported by Mark Bisson
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