Another country wants the Olympics.
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko wants the International Olympic Committee to take a look at his country as a possible host for the 2032 Summer Olympics. After all, Belarus did host the 2019 European Games and that should have been enough to capture the IOC’s attention. But there are numerous problems with Belarus starting with Lukashenko who has been Belarus’ President since 1994 and has a documented record of human right abuses. So much so that Great Britain denied him a visa that would have allowed him to attend the 2012 London Summer Olympics. But Belarus’ has one other substantial problem in landing an Olympics. The country does have the facilities needed to host an Olympics. Lukashenko has a solution to the facility problem. Team up with either Russia or Ukraine. Russia has stadium facilities since the country hosted the 2018 soccer World Cup. One of those stadiums could be used for the opening and closing ceremonies as well as events.
Lukashenko concedes that it would be very hard for Belarus on its own to land the IOC crown jewel. “Of course, it is difficult for us to compete with giants, but I suppose that we could co-host the Olympics with Ukrainians or Russians.” The only reason that Belarus got the 2019 European Games was that the Netherlands decided it was not worth the effort to take on the event. Forty-three European National Olympic Committees said yes to Minsk and Belarus despite the fact that Lukashenko has a terrible human rights record. But the Games must go on and even though the European Games technically don’t fall within the realm of the International Olympic Committee, the National Olympic Committees of individual European countries do abide with the Olympic charter. The IOC has given Olympic events to China and Russia despite documented human rights abuses. Hosting an Olympics makes a political statement.
