The Olympic Games and Mexico will be forever associated with the 1968 edition and this image, which has gone around the world, showing the American runners Tommie Smith and John Carlos, a gloved fist and the hand raised in the sky, on the podium during the national anthem, to symbolize the unity of black people in the face of racial segregation in the United States.
Mexico would like to renew the Olympic thread sixty-eight years later, and announced on Wednesday, October 26, its official candidacy to host the 2036 Summer Games, for the second time in its history.
“Six months from its 100th anniversary, the Mexican Olympic Committee is proud to begin the journey towards a new organization of the Olympic Games in 2036”said the president of the committee, María José Alcalá, a former Olympic diver.
Co-host of the FIFA World Cup in 2026
Approved by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Mexico’s candidacy is currently the only one in the running. Egypt has made it known that it is considering applying.
According to María José Alcalá, mentalities have evolved within the IOC: “The Olympic Games have changed, the chairman of the committee, Thomas Bach, has ensured that countries can participate without being in debt, without having to achieve great economic feats, but simply by being sites with great organizational capacity. and durability. »
“If Mexico offers something, it’s because it will make it happen”, assured Marcelo Ebrard, the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Mexico is “a sporting power that will host the World Cup [de football] in 2026 the only country to host it three times”, after 1970 and 1986, he recalled. Unlike these two previous editions, Mexico will jointly host, with the United States and Canada, the World Cup in four years.
Until 2036, the next Summer Olympics will be held in Paris in 2024, Los Angeles (USA) in 2028, and Brisbane (Australia) in 2032.