Could Dubai eye gold with Olympic bid?

The profile of Beijing is at an all-time high with the city currently playing host to the Olympic Games; the world's greatest sporting event.

Previous host cities such as Barcelona, Sydney and more recently Athens exemplify the level of prestige that hosting such an event carries. The Olympics has such a far-reaching appeal that hosting the games raises the profile of a city like no other event. For an entire month eyes from all over the world are firmly fixed on that city and, in terms of the economy, this has an enormously positive impact.

Of course, in order to get to the stage where a city is suitably positioned to hold the games, it needs to demonstrate truly world class sporting facilities as well as an infrastructure developed enough to cope with such a large influx of people.

Watching the events in Beijing made me think about Dubai. As one of the fastest growing cities in the world, could Dubai one day go for gold and host the Olympic Games? Obviously, one serious disadvantage would be the climate here. Walking to the car in the summer is bad enough, let alone running a marathon! Another issue would be the required infrastructure; could Dubai actually cope with the influx of visitors?

We are all too aware of the current traffic problems and accommodation shortage, but let's not forget that any realistic chance of securing such an event would be some distance in the future when all such issues are hopefully just a distant memory and Dubai would be well positioned to play host.

To really understand if this is possible you need to consider Dubai's global position in 15-20 years time. At this point it will be a city with an extremely large population and will have one of the most sophisticated infrastructures in the world. It will be inter-connected with the rest of the world through trade and tourism in a way that no other city will be.

Sports City

Catering to this vision is Dubai Sports City which is currently under construction. When completed, it will become the world's only purpose-built sports city and will incorporate state-of-the-art sporting venues and academies. As well as offering a championship golf course and a number of world class stadiums and sports facilities, Dubai Sports City will also provide residential and commercial developments for people looking to base themselves at the heart of the action.

Dubai's appetite and enthusiasm for producing an unrivalled visitor destination will also bolster an Olympic bid with a range of tourist facilities to occupy people away from the sporting action. Admittedly, at present it requires a little creativity to envisage what will eventually become a reality; but the plans are definitely impressive. Dubai already has the sun, sand, luxury hotels and shopping but add to that; Dubailand, The Palm Islands, The World Islands (to name but a few) and you begin to get an idea of what the future holds.

We have learned many things from watching Dubai grow over the years. One of those things is that if something is desired strongly enough, there is a drive and steely determination to make sure it happens. Dubai has the financial backing to pull off an Olympic bid and I am in no doubt that, in a land of firsts and innovation, the Olympics in Dubai would be like nothing the world had ever seen before.

The writer is managing director of Better Homes.