Heat will hit Olympic dream in the Gulf

In 10 years' time, the Gulf will be home to sports facilities capable of hosting major sporting events such as the Olympic Games. The latest project planned in the region is an Olympic-standard stadium in Abu Dhabi, which could be used by the emirate to mount a bid for the 2020 games, when much of the city's much-hyped Plan 2030 Urban Master-plan will have been completed.

By 2020, Abu Dhabi will have hosted its tenth Formula 1 Grand Prix, at least two Fifa Club World Cups, opened its 65,000-capacity Khalifa football stadium, and completed a range of world-class golf courses.

But even with all these projects, Abu Dhabi will have some serious competition if it wants to be the sports capital of the region. Bahrain already has its own Grand Prix, Doha still has the sporting infrastructure it built for the 2006 Asian Games and is opening a new equestrian centre, and Dubai has opened the first components of its sports city at Dubailand, and is working on one of the world's largest racecourses. In Saudi Arabia, there are plans for a new sports city development on the outskirts of Jeddah.

Such heavy investment goes way beyond building municipal sports centres for local communities. With governments spending billions of dollars, the aim is to host leading sports events. The Gulf has already had a taste with the Asian Games, Grands Prix, Twenty20 cricket matches, horse racing, swimming championships, tennis and golf tournaments, and Rugby Sevens, but it wants one of the big two: the Olympics or the Fifa World Cup.

Doha's 45-degree-plus October temperatures and lack of sporting legacy meant its bid for the 2016 Olympics was shortlived, and shows that the Gulf states still have much work to do to convince sports' governing bodies that they can host such high-profile competitions.

The weather, rather than the facilities, will be the main obstacle to the Gulf states' plans to host major sporting events.