When you ask anyone who lived in London during the summer of 2012 to remember that summer, the first word that’ll come out of their mouths is likely to be ‘Olympics’. The hazy-eyed memories of the London games remain lodged in the minds of everyone who lived in and visited the city to soak up the occasion.
Now, there could be a chance to witness another similar summer in the capital, as Mayor Sadiq Khan has pledged to ‘explore’ a bid for London to host the Olympics in 2040. As reported in The Evening Standard his announcement comes as the current London Mayor outlined parts of his 2024 manifesto today (April 18), ahead of the upcoming mayoral elections.
The host countries have already been selected for this summer (Paris), 2028 (Los Angeles), and 2032 (Brisbane), but the locations for 2036 and 2040 are still very much up for grabs. London is, of course, well-placed to host the games again, though we’d expect a great deal of preparation to go into it, as was the case in 2012, so the 16-year gap between today and the year in question is a healthy sweet spot.
Sadiq Khan had previously teased a London bid for the 2040 Olympics, and even spoke about creating the greenest Olympics to date. Should the bid come to fruition and be successful, it would come less than 30 years after the 2012 games. Prior to this, London had to wait over 60 years between Olympics in the city, with the games before that being held in the capital back in 1948. Even if an eventual 2040 bid proves unsuccessful, let’s hope we don’t have to wait that long again!
Sadiq Khan’s pledge on the Olympics comes alongside a string of other policies laid out today, which includes attempting to keep the partial Tube and bus fare freezes going “as long as economic conditions allow”. Of course, these pledges are all dependent on Khan being elected in the Mayoral elections, which take place on May 2. Should he be reelected, it would mark his third term as London Mayor, and would also mean we can seriously start talking about another potential Olympics in the capital. For now, watch this space…