Coe ‘very pleased’ with India’s interest to host 2036 Olympics but warns of hurdles

World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said he was delighted with India’s interest in hosting the 2036 Summer Games but cautioned the South Asian nation that organising an Olympics was one of the world’s most complex projects. On Monday, Coe, whose grandfather was Indian, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the country’s sports minister, Mansukh Mandaviya, in Delhi where the prospect of India’s bid for the 2036 Games was discussed. RELATED: World Athletics boss Sebastian Coe meets Sports Minister in India, discusses 2036 Olympics “We know that the Olympic Games is a unique sporting event and it doesn’t surprise me that a country with the type of ambitions that India has and the vision for sports beyond the field of play and into the delivery of social and economic benefits, would look at staging a Games.” Indonesia, Egypt, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are also among countries that have shown interest in hosting the 2036 Games. “Whether it’s on sports or social and urban planning, whether it’s about health and related fitness, it may be all of those things, but be very clear what your legacy is, because if you’re not, then others will define it for you, and that may not end well.” The world’s most populous nation has an astonishingly poor return at the Olympics, and the seven medals won in Tokyo 2020 was its biggest haul from a single Games.