Olympic chiefs Friday gave Qatar's Doha the green light to bid for the 2020 summer Olympics by allowing a shift in dates to later in the year and avoid the extreme desert heat. An International Olympic Committee source told Reuters the executive board had considered Qatar's request and allowed a bid with such dates to be submitted.The source said the date approval with the Games to be held in the September/October window merely meant that it would not be “a deal breaker” and that any Qatar bid would still have to solve issues regarding sports calendar scheduling and the health of athletes and visitors even during those dates.IOC President Jacques Rogge earlier Friday told reporters in Daegu that he would decide after discussing the matter with his executive board. Qatar's bid for the 2016 Olympics, eventually won by Rio, floundered on its insistence on holding that Games in October. The IOC may, however, consider a Games outside the traditional window this time. The deadline for submitting a bid for the 2020 Olympics is Sept. 1 and the host city will be announced at the IOC Session in September 2013. So far Rome, Madrid, Istanbul and Tokyo have all declared their intention to bid. Qatar is expected to join them after the nod from the IOC. Temperatures in Doha average more than 38-degrees Celsius from May to Sept. before cooling a little. Qatar will host the 2022 soccer World Cup and is committed to investing $20 billion to $25 billion in tourism infrastructure development over the next 11 years, the head of its state-run tourism authority told Reuters this week. There is a precedent of a city shifting the Summer Games outside the traditional July/August window — in 2000 the Sydney Olympics were held from Sept. 15 to Oct. 1. Earlier this week the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) said it would not submit a bid to stage the 2020 Summer Olympics. New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Dallas, Tulsa and Las Vegas had all had discussions with USOC about the 2020 race but the organization said there was not enough time to put together a winning bid ahead of the deadline.“We would have loved to have a bid for 2020 emanating from the US and the US is the country that has organized most Olympic Games ever and greatly contributed to the Olympic movement and also great quality of Games,” Rogge said. “But we respect and understand the position of USOC and we hope that there will be good bids in the future beyond 2020.” __
