Love the Olympics? Love the UAE? Well a new survey by YouGov shows that a whopping eight out of 10 UAE residents would be keen to have the games hosted here in the future.
With the 2016 Rio Olympic Games now over, a survey conducted on 1,000 UAE residents shows that 82 per cent would like to see the Games hosted jointly with other GCC nations.
So, what does this mean? It means the UAE may bid for the Olympics 2024.
Team UAE at the Rio Olympics
It wouldn’t be the first time – in December 2012, one of the UAE National Olympic Committees top officials confirmed that Dubai would bid for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.
Back then, a YouGov poll showed that only 75 per cent of UAE residents thought hosting the Games was a good idea.
In the same poll, the majority of respondents already thought that Dubai was capable of hosting the Olympics, with 78 per cent feeling that Dubai had the infrastructure and 68 per cent feeling that it had the expertise.
Three-quarters of respondents also believed that Dubai would be the safest place in the Middle East to host the Olympics.
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Ayesha Al Balooshi, UAE Olympic weightlifter at the Rio Games
HOW WELL DID THE OLYMPICS GO DOWN?
This year’s Rio Olympics were wildly popular in the UAE. Seventy-eight per cent of residents followed the event, with 42 per cent following it closely.
Two thirds of residents claim that the Rio Olympics inspired them to become more physically active, and three quarters agreed that the games were an overall success. Find out how well the UAE Olympic team did.
Speaking about the possibility of the UAE hosting the Olympics, YouGov’s MENA Managing Director Kailash Nagdev said: “Following a feasibility study conducted for the 2020 Olympics concluding that over 70 per cent of the infrastructure required for the Games is ready or planned in the country, irrespective of an Olympic bid, the UAE is well on track to have fantastic infrastructure to host an Olympics.”
Runner Alia Saeed at Rio
Image: Getty – Alia Saeed at the 2014 Asian Games
