Rustam Nur

Olympic Ambitions

While reading Tom Bissell's Chasing the Sea, I was surprised to discover that back in 1992, newly independent Uzbekistan actually put in a bid to host the 2000 Olympic Games. Tashkent, having inherited antiquated soviet sports facilities, was tossed into a suicidal rivalry against the likes of Berlin, Milan, Manchester, Istanbul, and Beijing.

Bissel describes Tashkent during his visit to Uzbekistan in 2001, with posters all over Broadway near Amir Temur Square featuring Islam Karimov looking like a star athlete. “The next poster featured Karimov the Athlete, first dribbling a basketball; then in full tennis regalia (Karimov was such an apostle of the sport he lured a major international tennis championship to Tashkent and built for it a jumbo stadium); then playing chess, seemingly against himself, on an airplane. The last poster was not of Karimov at all but showed Uzbek athletes doing judo, swimming, boxing, playing water polo, and even planting an Uzbek flag atop Everest. I then realized these posters were the remnants of Tashkent’s most recent campaign to host the Olympic Games, something its city fathers had tried and failed to arrange for four Olympics running.”

Despite this bold bid, Uzbekistan faced significant skepticism due to its post-Soviet economic struggles and concerns about whether it could handle the massive financial and infrastructure demands of hosting the Olympics.

Fast forward to 2024, and Uzbekistan is giving it another shot—this time bidding to host the 2030 Asian Games. Compared to 32 years ago, we're in a much better place, with recent Olympic successes and a strong track record in the Asian Games.

Now, with a much stronger portfolio—especially since we’re already hosting the Futsal World Cup—Uzbekistan might just have what it takes to win the bid and perhaps even set itself up for a future Olympic bid.