Olympics: Africa Could Host Olympics As Soon As 2032

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea —International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach said on Wednesday that Africa could host the Olympics for the first time as early as 2032, AFP reports.

It came after the IOC approved plans to target Africa to host the fourth Summer Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in 2022.

"This Youth Olympic Games we hope can inspire one of the African countries to come up with a feasible candidature for 2032 or 2036," said Bach, speaking in Pyeongchang two days before the start of the Winter Olympics.

"But we have enough confidence in Africa that we said we do not want to wait so long, let's go in 2022 with the Youth Olympic Games (YOG)," added Bach, declining to name which African country he had in mind for the full Olympics.

In a separate statement about Africa for the YOG, Bach said that the IOC "will proactively approach a number of African (countries) to evaluate the feasibility of such a project".

The IOC hopes to elect a host city at the next IOC session, to be held in October 2018 in Buenos Aires.

Rio de Janeiro in 2016 became the first South American host of the Olympic Games.