Dubai: Great Britain's former middle-distance double Olympic gold medallist Dame Kelly Holmes said yesterday, she saw no reason why Dubai's bid for the 2024 Olympic Games wouldn't be successful — provided the Emirate looked to Qatar's 2022 World Cup for solutions to combat the region's stifling mid-summer heat.
Speaking from the sidelines of her visit to Dubai College, where she held motivational talks with students followed by a short training session yesterday as a guest of British Telecom and the British Embassy, Holmes said: "By 2024 there's a good chance they [Dubai] will learn about the needs and expectations of infrastructure and of what the Games is all about."
"Qatar has the World Cup [in 2022] and that will probably give Dubai, in terms of time of year, [an idea of] what's needed and what's expected. They'll really get to see that expectation [first hand] and see whether it really worked," said Holmes, who picked up 800m and 1500m gold at Athens 2004 and was made Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire by the Queen in 2005 for her services to sports and the British Armed Forces.
Having foregone 2016 and 2020 Olympic bids, Dubai confirmed this summer that 2024 was the more feasible target. A warm-up hosting of either the Asian Games or Youth Olympics has been penciled in by the UAE National Olympic Committee — in the meantime — as an ideal opportunity to prove the city's ability as a major sports event host.
Major talking point
But heat, a major talking point of the Qatar World Cup and also Doha's failed 2016 Olympic bid four years ago, will surely resurface as the case against the hosting of major sports events in the region. Qatar, incidentally has rejoined the Olympic bidding race for 2020.
Holmes added: "There's no reason not to go for it. Sport is all about passion, it's about being able to deliver a massive games on time and on budget to give fundamentally the best experience for athletes. The only thing they'd have to consider is the time of year."
