Syracuse

The Candidature Process for the Olympic Games has undergone numerous changes over the years since an official process was first introduced in the early 1920s. This historical overview sums-up all the changes through history.

At the time, cities simply had to inform the IOC of their interest. For the 1920 edition, the city of Antwerp (Belgium) raised the level by publishing a detailed plan of its proposed strategy. In the 1950s, the IOC asked the candidate cities to provide more comprehensive information, so that it could better evaluate the candidatures.

A significant step was taken by the IOC in 1992, with the introduction of a detailed process and technical questionnaire for the Olympic Games in 2000. This resulted in a standardised and transparent process facilitating the evaluation of the Candidate Cities and providing the cities with a unique opportunity to take stock of their own sports and general infrastructure and facilities.

Olympic Agenda 2020, the strategic roadmap for the future of the Olympic Movement, which was approved by the IOC Session in December 2014, resulted in further changes to the candidature process. A strengthened dialogue between the IOC and the candidate cities established a real partnership and increased the progressive information exchange. The expertise built up by the IOC over the years across all organisational aspects of the Games, such as infrastructural development, transport organisation, management of athlete and spectator transit and sustainability, was shared with the cities and regions, providing them with valuable assistance to construct a project tailored to their future vision and their long-term development needs, in order to ensure not only excellent Games, but also a sustainable, positive legacy.

In June 2019, the IOC Session approved a new streamlined approach to future host elections. A flexible timeline has been installed by removing from the Olympic Charter the requirement for the host to be elected seven years in advance. The current IOC Evaluation Commission has been replaced by separate Future Host Commissions for the Games of the Olympiad and the Olympic Winter Games, which role is to continually explore, monitor and encourage interest in future Olympic Games, Olympic Winter Games and Youth Olympic Games. Part of the mandate is to interact with potential hosts to determine the nature and extent of their possible interest and work with them to understand the various elements and opportunities of the Olympic Games and the Youth Olympic Games.  

To facilitate your research on this topic, we have compiled the most important official publications, an extensive list of links and a wide range of academic articles for you on this page.

This is just a selection of the resources available; be sure to check out the full list of resources available in the Olympic World Library at the link at the bottom of the page or search in the full catalogue for other topics of interest.

Remember to sign up to personal alerts on your topic of interests to stay informed of all new titles added to the collection.