Opinion | From flights of fancy to reality, National Games paves way for a bright future
Hosting the Olympics is no longer a pipe dream for Hong Kong, now it just needs to get its athletes in line
Several months ago, a group of business leaders in the city floated the idea that Hong Kong might play a key role in bringing the 2036 Olympics to the Greater Bay Area.
At the time it felt more than a little fanciful. The sort of pie in the sky thinking designed to start conversations around improving the city’s sporting infrastructure which, Kai Tak Sports Park aside, is badly in need of rejuvenation, and driving ambition, rather than being a proposal for serious consideration.
How times change. The National Games over the past two weeks have shown it to not only be an idea worthy of further discussion, but one now endorsed by former International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach.
Bach told the region to “go for it”, suggesting there existed the constituent ingredients sprinkled among co-hosts Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau to not only make a bid worthwhile but realistic.
Even if those were the words of a consummate politician, ones also whispered sweetly into South African ears last year, that does not mean they should be taken lightly.
Certainly the cooperation across the GBA has shown that staging large sporting events is well within the capabilities of all three hosts. In many ways it has been an unqualified success – there remains only the need for less encumbered travel across borders to be addressed for next time.