"I'm a strong believer in your country" - France President Emmanuel Macron supports India's bid for 2036 Olympics
India, along with a handful other countries, have bid to host the 2036 Olympics. A recent most addition to the list which contains Indonesia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and India is Egypt, who has opted to bid for claiming the hosting rights of the quadrennial event.
France's President Emmanuel Macron recently spoke highly of India's bid for the 2036 Olympics and how the nation has already gained knowledge of hosting the showpiece event by playing a minimal part at the recently concluded Paris Olympics. He shared in an interview with JioCinema:
"I'm a strong believer in your country and its future, what you can build and your capacity to organise such events. I think this is a fierce competition and you shouldn't underestimate it. I remember seven years ago, when I went to Lausanne, we competed with the US at the time and we found this agreement and at the end, it is still a great cooperation. Competing is in itself a great preparation. Second, we did work and will continue to work with India."
He further said:
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked me to send a technical team here, and you have some Indians embedded with our teams for the preparation of this Olympic Games and during it. If we can transfer the know-how and the technology, it would be great. Third, we have a lot of companies involved in the events, equipments, and so on, which have learned a lot during these Games. They will be a part of Los Angeles. They will be a part of Brisbane. I'll be delighted if they could be a part of an Indian candidature for the Olympics in India.”
Unity is important for hosting such a big event
The Olympics requires a lot of top-notch infrastructure, including accommodation and transportation. Hosting an Olympics means a brilliant flow of revenue and a lot of businesses get impacted too.
Emmanuel Macron emphasized on how the unity among the people involved in hosting the event can ultimately lead to the success. He said:
“For me, what is key to organise the Olympics is unity. You need your sportspeople, your Olympic Committee, local communities and constituencies, and obviously the State, and all the different people from security to organisation. This is the unity of the team. Second, you also need stability because during the past seven years, it's been almost the same team and people involved. This is a huge investment.
"We spoke about the Seine River; you tested it here. A lot of people told us it's impossible, just forget it. No, we stuck to our commitment and decided to go to the end. Stability and capacity to go to the end. Third, audacity, I think it's very important because in this new phase, you have to dream big and deliver big and your country has the capacity to do so,” he added.
India as a sporting nation hasn't been the best of the countries at the Olympic Games but if a cross-reference is drawn with the Commonwealth Games, it can be seen that India's most successful outing at the latter event came in 2010 when it hosted it. If India can host the Olympics, it will be a statement to the entire world and it will also upscale the revenue flow in the nation and create several job opportunities as well.