INCHEON: Olympic boss Thomas Bach on Saturday said future Games hosts would have to prove their “sustainability” and that there would be a shake-up of the bidding criteria.

The IOC president made the comments to Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) delegates in Incheon, which has gone into debt to host the ongoing Asian Games.

The German official said the IOC has to “act now” to preserve its “relevance”, suggesting cities who pitch for international sports events need to think about the long-term impact.

“There is broad agreement that we need changes in the bidding and candidature procedure for the Olympic Games,” Bach told the OCA general assembly.

“We need to address the fact that in today’s world the Games need to make a greater contribution to sustainability.

“We have to encourage and motivate the candidate cities to take sustainability into account from the very beginning of the bidding procedure,” he added.

“So, in the future we want to invite potential bidding cities to tell us how they see the Olympic Games fitting into their social, economic, ecological and sports environment.”

Bach’s address came on the sidelines of the 17th Asian Games, which have cost nearly $2 billion and made Incheon South Korea’s most indebted city.

Vietnam withdrew from holding the next Asian Games because of the cost. China’s Guangzhou was reportedly left with heavy debts after it staged the Games four years ago.

Bach said recent Asian and Olympic Games have been successful, but warned national Olympic committees against complacency. “If you don’t change at the moment when you are successful the day will come when you will face problems or a crisis,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 21st , 2014