The president of world athletics has said Qatar could move the Summer Olympics to cooler months later in the year if the Gulf country successfully bids to host the Games.

“Yeah, we have to be realistic about this,” the President of the International Association of Athletics Federations Sebastian Coe, speaking in Doha to French news agency AFP in Doha on 28 October. “We have to recognise that the world wants sport and it’s not always going to be bidding from areas where there aren’t going to be challenges.

“And those challenges are not just geographical or climatic, they are social, cultural, they are political.”

Doha has publicly stated that it will bid for future Olympics, with 2028 being a likely contender.

Qatar said in February that it could bid for the 2028 Summer Olympic Games. A decision on which city will host the 2028 Olympics is expected to be made in 2021. A variety of other cities have been reported as potential bidders they are:

• Amsterdam (Netherlands)
• Berlin (Germany)
• Brisbane (Australia)
• Buenos Aires (Argentina)
• Budapest (Hungary)
• Busan (South Korea)
• Casablanca (Morocco)
• Johannesburg (South Africa)
• Kazan (Russia)
• Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)
• Melbourne (Australia)
• Milan (Italy)
• Nairobi (Kenya)
• Naples (Italy)
• Oregon (US)
• Paris (France)
• Rotterdam (Netherlands)
• Sochi (Russia)
• Singapore
• St Petersburg (Russia)

If Qatar does bid for the 2028 Olympics it would be the third time Doha has competed to host the event. It bid for the 2020 Olympics, but did not make the final shortlist. It proposed holding the games in October.

Qatar has invested heavily in infrastructure and sports facilities for the 2022 Fifa World Cup. The World Cup is also stimulating private sector investment in real estate and hospitality.

It has also hosted the Handball Men’s World Championships in 2015 and has been awarded the 2019 World Athletics Championship.