Olympic Games should be planned decades in advance to give more cities in the Global South the chance of hosting and reaping the cultural and infrastructural benefits, writes Christian Benimana as part of our Olympic Impact series.

Training an athlete to become an Olympian takes a minimum of eight to nine years. It involves thousands of hours of training, coaching and competitions, both individually and within a community, across various facilities.
Similarly, cities hosting the Olympics undergo a rigorous planning process, with the host cities now being awarded the games 10 years in advance. For instance, it was recently announced that Utah will host the Winter Olympics in 2034.
What if we instead selected cities decades in advance" Typically, the Olympics are hosted in cities with extensive infrastructure and established pools of athletic talent. Paris, which hosted the Olympics in 1900 and 1924, has had more than 100 years to prepare to host the Summer Olympics again, utilising much of the existing infrastructure developed over time.
But what if we instead selected cities decades in advance, cities with untapped talent and infrastructure needs" What if we invested in locations with the potential to expand the Olympic spirit, nurturing the next generation of Olympians, much like Paris did over a century ago"
As a third-time host of the Summer Olympics, Paris has made exemplary use of its historical sporting and cultural spaces, with only one new major per...