The Paris Olympics: a catalyst of change for Africa?

Analysis

The French capital, Paris, officially launched the 33rd Olympic Games on 26 July. Several African heads of states met French President Emmanuel Macron, attended development-oriented forums and the opening ceremony. A new generation of talented African athletes is well represented at the competition and poised to make a positive mark on the Olympic Games. Nevertheless, considering the costly nature of the event, will we ever see an African city host the Olympics?

About

Leonard Mbulle Nziege is a senior consultant at Concerto, specialising in business and economic intelligence as well as political risk issues in Africa. Contact Leonard at lnm@concerto-pr.com for more information on the subject, or to find out more about how Concerto can help you.

QUICK INSIGHTS The French capital, Paris, officially launched the 33rd Olympic Games on 26 July. Several African heads of states met French President Emmanuel Macron, attended development-oriented forums and the opening ceremony. A new generation of talented African athletes is well represented at the competition and poised to make a positive mark on the Olympic Games. Nevertheless, considering the costly nature of the event, will we ever see an African city host the Olympics?

Leaders at the ceremony used the occasion to foster improved France-Africa relations and to discuss important development endeavours.
Athletes from all 54 African countries are present in Paris, with Africans set to dominate and obtain medals in several sporting codes.
Despite the solid African adherence to the Olympic Games, what steps can be taken to ensure the competition is staged on the continent in the future?

Event offered opportunities for high-level diplomatic engagements Paris is hosting the Olympic Games for the first time since 1924, from 26 July to 11 August. 85 heads of state and government attended the Olympic opening ceremony at the invitation of French President Emmanuel Macron, who held a special reception for the invitees. Twelve African heads of state attended, including the continent’s youngest democratically-elected president, Bassirou Faye of Senegal, Africa’s oldest president, Cameroon’s Paul Biya as well as Mauritanian head of state and current African Union president Mohamed Ould Ghazouani. These leaders and the other African heads of states present, held audiences with Macron, underscoring the mutual desire between France and these respective countries to strengthen bilateral ties. A high-level summit on sport and sustainable development was organised by the French Development Agency on 25 July, during which Rwandan president Paul Kagame was praised for his recent efforts to promote sport as a vector of development in Rwanda. This includes initiating mega projects such as the construction of the Kigali Arena and ultra modern Amahoro Stadium. An electrifying opening ceremony attended by over 300,000 spectators at the River Seine saw the participation of an estimated 3000 artists, including French-Malian pop icon Aya Nakamura, who was one of the evening’s headline acts. African athletes increasingly feature amongst the world’s best in various sports Africans were not only present as attendees and performers but will be actively participating as athletes across most disciplines. A total of 54 African countries have sent athletes. with the largest delegations dispatched by South Africa (149), Nigeria (88) and Kenya (83). During the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, African countries obtained 27 medals, and Kenya earned 10. These countries hope to surpass this tally, with the South African rugby sevens team and Tunisian fencer Fres Ferjani having already secured bronze and silver medals at . Individuals such as Kenyan marathon icon Eliud Kipchonge, who won gold in 2016 and 2020, and South African swimmer Tatjana Smith, a 2020 gold medallist, will be the continent’s best hope to earn gold medals. Eritrean cyclist Biniam Girmay, who made history earlier in July by becoming the first African to win a stage at the Tour de France and South Sudan’s men’s basketball team, is also looking to create significant surprises in their maiden Olympic participation. Can an African city ever host the Olympic Games? While African athletes have been a staple at the Olympic Games since 1904, no African city has ever hosted the competition. Cape Town (South Africa) came closest, making it to the final round of bidding for the 2004 contest that went to Athens. In reality, the significant costs associated with hosting the games, such as the Paris competition, which required an estimated USD 9.7 billion in expenditure, make it unlikely that an African city outside of Egypt, Morocco or South Africa will host in the near to medium-term. This is despite the significant economic benefits that it can provide. For example, France is projected to generate EUR 3.2 billion in non-ticket revenue, while 150,000 job opportunities were created because of the competition. Furthermore, 6,000 affordable housing units will be made available after the competition, when the Olympic Village is converted into accommodation, while tourist arrivals are expected to surpass pre-COVID-19 numbers. With the International Olympic Committee setting increasingly stringent bidding processes to reduce the budget overruns and delays in the completion of infrastructure experienced over the last 40 years, African countries will have to be more innovative to have serious hosting opportunities. Long-term investment plans should be oriented towards sports infrastructure and development programmes. African countries should also take steps to host more high-profile international sporting events to enhance their organisational and technical capacities in this domain. An example of such an effort is the 4th Youth Olympic Games that will be hosted in 2026 in Dakar (Senegal). The event, which was initially supposed to take place in 2022 and was postponed until 2026 due to COVID-19, is the first Olympic event to be held in Africa and will be a milestone for sports on the continent.