New International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Kirsty Coventry has announced a halt in selection process of the Olympics host city.The committee will now pause and review the host cities. The move is a major shocker and a blow for India that has been eyeing to secure a bid for 2026 Summer Olympics and emerges as a leading contender. Coventry stated that the decision was primarily taken because of two main reasons.
Firstly, IOC members wanted more engagement in the process and secondly the next host will be awarded after significant discussion over time and would be a tough decision to take.
“There was an overwhelming support from the IOC members for a pause to be done and a review of the future host election process and we will be setting up a working group to look into this,” said Coventry, 41.
This was her first Executive Board meeting held in Lausanne.
India submitted a Letter of Intent to IOC in October in 2024 and will also be sending a senior delegation to Lausanne next week. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been talking about India’s bid to host the Olympics in his public rallies.
