Dubai’s probable interest to bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games has been acknowledged following the announcement of Qatar’s intention to pitch for the venue of the world’s most important sports event.

No formal announcement of the intention has been made yet, but it seems Dubai has been working on the preparation to make the city ready to host the 2016 Olympic Games. The venue in question is the Dubai Sports City, which is set for completion by 2010.

Dubai Sports City is a facility that has an approximate size of 50 million square feet. It will feature state-of-the-art stadiums and top-of-the-line sporting academies. A 60,000-seat multi-purpose outdoor stadium will exist, as well as a 25,000-capacity cricket stadium. Other features of this facility are a 10,000-seat multi-purpose indoor arena and a field hockey stadium for 5,000 audiences. Living up to a part of its title, Dubai Sports City will also have residential areas, shops, schools, restaurants, and other basic components that make up a city.

In order for the International Olympic Committee to consider a city to be the venue for the Olympics, certain basic elements should be existing such as; an existing or approved plan for a stadium that would be spacious enough to accommodate the opening and closing ceremony, and would be able to spare as space for the track and field competition; an existing or a commitment to build necessary infrastructure such as the likes of transportation; Olympic and media village venues and sufficient hotel and convention space; support from the local, state and federal governments as well as certain private sector involvement; realistic chance to win against international candidates.

While many other major cities are likely to bid such as Cape Town, Tokyo, Leipzig, Madrid, Istanbul, etc., they will have to wait for the bidding to commence in 2007. The winner shall be chosen in October 2009 at the Olympic Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark.