Abuja Welcomes the World to the 37th Olympics

The opening is promised to present “the richness and flavors that Nigeria and Africa have to offer”. The big happening during the opening will be the 16 meters high 3-D projected Nigerian dancers that will swing across the field, accompanied by thousands human ones. They also promise a couple of special surprises for the opening party.

As any major sports event this has also been preceded by the questions of doping and the way to fight it, but we can only hope that these games will be as clean as possible. No more sports have been added for these Olympics, so the newest ones are still climbing and windsurfing.

The closing of the games will be on September 30, the day before Nigeria celebrates 80 years as an independent nation.

Argument: Africa is still the only continent (except Antarctica) that hasn’t hosted the Olympic Games but will most likely do so for the first time around year 2024 or 2028. The African countries that have the best chances in getting the Olympics are South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Algeria, Morocco and Kenya. If the first African Olympics become a success there will most likely follow another one on the continent soon after.

Questions: The most countries that have hosted the summer Olympics have already been established tourist destinations for people from Europe and the US. Will the Olympics in the African countries inspire to a wave of tourists? In what other way will hosting of major sports event, like the World Cup in Soccer year 2010 to be held in South Africa, affect Africa?