South Africa will bid to host the Summer Olympics and Paralympics in either 2036 or 2040, the country's government has unveiled.
This comes as the latest effort to bring arguably sport's most iconic event to Africa for the first time ever, with the South African government now revealed as having been in dialogue with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on the topic for several months.
In a press event, governmental minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said: "South Africa initiates its intention to bid for the 2036 and 2040 Olympic Games."
She did not specify which specific city might be chosen as a host for the Games, instead saying that this declaration is a "preliminary and exploratory engagement that is critical to advance South Africa's intention to bid for the hosting rights of the Olympic and Paralympic Games."
Cape Town was the last South African city to bid for Olympic Games hosting rights, putting its name forward for the 2004 edition - that event was eventually awarded to Athens, Greece, through a vote in 1997.
While Africa as a whole has never hosted an Olympic Games before (although Senegal will stage the Youth Olympics in late 2026), South Africa did become the first country on that continent to stage soccer's FIFA World Cup in 2010.
Ntshavheni added that the country's government had been in dialogue with the IOC since June - that governing body now has Kirsty Coventry, from South Africa's neighbor Zimbabwe, as its president.
The 2028 Summer Olympics and Paralympics will be held in Los Angeles, USA, while the 2032 games will take place in Brisbane, Australia.
In terms of other options for the 2036 or 2040 games, meanwhile, India and Qatar have already made their intention to bid for hosting rights to the earlier event clear, while late October saw residents in the German city of Munich vote in favor of a bid for either the 2036, 2040, or 2044 Olympics.
Saudi Arabia is also intending to bid to put on the 2036 games (with the IOC having not yet unveiled a timeline for selecting that event's host).
South Africa, meanwhile, when it comes to staging major international sporting events, will put on the majority of the men's ICC Cricket World Cup in 2027, while it is also looking to stage a Grand Prix from motor racing's iconic Formula 1 from that same year onwards.
In addition, it is also - reportedly - looking to bid for the men's Rugby World Cup in 2035 (a host selection process for that event began last month).
Ntshavheni has also suggested that stadia and other sporting infrastructure in South Africa - with a significant amount built for the 2010 FIFA World Cup - would not need to be redeveloped for the Olympics.
She said: "Even if we are offered the games tomorrow, [the] cabinet is confident that we should be able to host them with our facilities."
