LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s Olympics Minister Hugh Robertson encouraged African nations to bid to host the 2024 Olympics, saying on Saturday the Games should not be the preserve of Western nations and the rich.

Football

South Africa burst onto the international sports scene in 2010 when it hosted the soccer World Cup, and the continent’s runners dominate long-distance events.

But an African nation has yet to host the Olympics.

“I am a firm believer that the Olympics should not just be restricted to western Europe, to the Americas, to the prosperous nations of the Far East,” Robertson told Reuters at a National Olympic Committees of Africa event.

“That’s one of the most exciting things about Rio (the 2016 Olympic host city). And I would very much like to see the Olympics in future years go to the continent of Africa.”

No African city is on the shortlist to host 2020, the winner of which is due to be announced in 2013, after the few who proposed making a bid failed to follow through.

But Casablanca, in Morocco; Durban, in South Africa; and Alexandria, in Egypt, are being touted as possible bidders for 2024.

“I very much hope that African nations will bid in 2024,” Robertson said at the Africa Village hospitality and cultural arena, in London’s Hyde Park.

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