Durban 2022 Games bid in full swing
There’s also talk that the city is focusing on the 2024 Olympics
THE Durban 2022 bid for the Commonwealth Games has a Madiba angle, with the opening ceremony set for July 18 to commemorate the birthday of the late Nelson Mandela.
This proposal is one of many in the 600-page bid book that will officially be submitted to the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) in London tomorrow.
Durban is the only candidate, after Edmonton in Canada withdrew recently.
Bid committee CEO Tubby Reddy said in an interview they would need 10 000 volunteers to assist at the Games, which will run from July 18 to 29.
The Moses Mabhida Stadium will host both the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as the track and field competition.
Durban will see the introduction of beach volleyball, but at the expense of gymnastics.
“Not because of me,” added Reddy, who is also Volleyball SA president.
“It’s Durban, television and beach volleyball. It’s probably ideal there. You also have to look at it in terms of revenue — what generates revenue and audiences.
“At the Olympic Games, beach volleyball is normally sold out before the event,” added Reddy, saying they would also include three-a-side wheelchair basketball as the paralympic component of the Games.
Of the 17 Games sports on offer, 14 would be staged within a 2.5km radius of the stadium.
Rugby sevens is set for Kings Park, indoor sports like boxing, judo, wrestling and table tennis will be at the convention centre, netball at the exhibition centre and hockey at Queensmead.
Two venues have been proposed for swimming. One is the Kings Park pool, but the preferred option is a temporary open-air venue at the Ruth Finlayson tidal pool on the beachfront.
That would require two 50m pools and temporary stands to seat 5 000 spectators, but Reddy said that would be “more cost effective … than to upgrade Kings Park pool”.
Both venues would require 50m warm-up pools.
ON THE BALL: Bid committee chief executive Tubby Reddy
SA’s athletes will also score from more financial support, with a big preparation budget set aside to make the host team as competitive as possible.
“We will see more money going into preparation and also targeting age-group athletes, who should perform in 2022.”
By Games’ time Chad le Clos will be 30, Cameron van der Burgh 34, hurdler Cornel Fredericks 32 and sprinter Anaso Jobodwana will turn 30 the day after the Games.
“The funding for athletes’ preparation will have to come from various sectors. We are looking at national government, the Lotto and corporates,” said Reddy.
There has also been talk that Durban would bid for the 2024 Olympic Games, a topic on which Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula has been vocal.
But Reddy pointed out that the city would not be able to convert the Commonwealth bid into an Olympic one easily.
“The president of Sascoc [Gideon Sam] together with [Sam Ramsamy] have been tasked to speak to government to ascertain their appetite to decide whether they have an intention to bid for [the Olympics] as early as 2024.
“The whole process of the Commonwealth bid and the actual budgets have been very stringently looked at already,” said Reddy.
He said government had been promised that Durban 2022 would be an affordable Games.
“But the Olympic Games is a totally different ball game in terms of costing … The CGF gives you a guideline on seating capacity but it’s nowhere near the requirements you would have for an Olympic Games.”
For example, a gymnastics venue would require 5 000 seats for a Commonwealth Games, but 15 000 for an Olympics.
Reddy said Durban 2022 would cost far less than the R10-billion estimated — only two venues would be built from scratch.
One is the shooting range, and the other the athletes’ village in Cornubia, which is part of government’s national development plan and would not be part of the Games budget.
The Durban bid will be assessed by an evaluation commission, as well as by the 71 members who will cast the final vote at the CGF general assembly on September 2.
We are looking at national government, the Lotto and corporates for funding