A Summer Olympics In The Fall? Maybe It’s Time To Consider When The Games Are Held, IOC Insiders Say

What if the Olympics weren’t just a summer or winter affair? Climate change and geography may force a rethink of the Olympic Games calendar, World Athletics head Sebastian Coe warned this week.
Coe, who is considered a strong candidate to become the next International Olympic Committee President, indicated he would be open to recalibrating the Olympic calendar to open the Games up to diverse host nations, including perhaps Saudi Arabia.
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe, right, is seen as a strong candidate to replace IOC ... [+] President Thomas Bach. Coe said this week that future summer Games may not necessarily be held in the summer season. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
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In an interview with The Times of London this week, Coe indicated that Saudi Arabia was “keen” to bid for the 2040 Summer Games. The IOC will be courting hosts for the 2036 and 2040 Summer Olympics during the next few years.
As regions warm and snowfall becomes more scarce, many feel the Winter Olympics are in greater danger than their summer counterparts. And while possible host cities for the Winter Olympics seem ever scarcer as the world warms, concern for the outdoor events that are signatures of the Summer Games is part of the agenda now too, even as a broader array of potential host cities emerges.
A Summer Olympics in Saudi Arabia is unlikely to be held during the traditional summer months, when temperatures in the kingdom can soar to over 100 degrees in the shade and peak around 130 degrees fahrenheit in the desert. Jeddah, Saudi Arabia’s second largest city, recorded a scorching 125.6 degrees in 2010, earning it a place on the list of the BBC’s Hottest Places on Earth.