London Set To Make Commonwealth Games Bid

According to the Mayor of London’s Olympic legacy advisor, London is set to make a bid to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Neale Coleman backed the move in an interview with ITV News, following the bid’s support from sports minister Hugh Robertson, UK Sport chair Baroness Sue Campbell, and Sport England chief executive Jenny Price.

Coleman said: ‘Looking ahead, one possibility is that [the 2022 Commonwealth Games], we haven’t had a Commonwealth Games in London for a very, very long time. It is a fantastic event, it brings people together in a unique way and we do have the facilities there that would make a bid for that possible. So I think it is something that is in our minds at the moment. We would need broad support obviously – we would need the Government to think it is a good idea.’

The Commonwealth Games, which will be staged in Glasgow in 2014 and Australia in 2018, was last hosted in London in 1934 when the event was called the British Empire Games.

Hugh Robertson has previously said of a potential bid: ‘The Commonwealth Games are obviously in Glasgow in 2014 and then it is the Gold Coast in 2018 so the next bidding possibility is 2022, on that issue, we would first have to look at who is bidding for it. I am a huge supporter of the Commonwealth Games and have been involved in several Commonwealth Sports Ministers meetings so I would love to see the Commonwealth Games come here.

It is thought that Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, Singapore and Sri Lanka are also considering launching a bid to host the event in 2022.