It is now official, South Africa will not participate in the bid process for 2020 Summer Olympic Games. The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCO) has estimated a cost of US$ 50 million for participating in the bid process and the support of the Government is crucial in arranging the money. However, the Government of South Africa is not too willing to extend their support to arrange the fund and thus SASCO has decided to opt out from the bid process.
The bid process for the 2020 Summer Olympics will proceed to candidate phase from the applicant phase in May 2012 and the official bid books will be submitted by the candidate cities in January 2013. The evaluation will be made by the IOC Evaluation Committee in June 2013 and the host city will be decided through an election process on 7th September 2013 in Buenos Aires.
So far, Rome is the only official contender for the bid process. Tokyo, Madrid, Doha, Dubai and Istanbul are the other expected bidders to bid for the Summer Olympic Games 2020.
