The Polish president has confirmed his country will bid to host the 2036 Summer Olympics.

Speaking at a conference in Zakopane, southern Poland, earlier today, president Andrzej Duda said: “I would like to announce, after consultations with the Polish Olympic Committee, with the Minister of Sport, and with the government, that our ambition and intention is to start efforts to organize the Summer Olympic Games in 2036.”

Poland has never hosted either a summer or winter edition of the games but did stage the multi-sport European Games earlier this year across Krakow and Malopolska.

Poland will join a line-up of interested countries for the 2036 Olympics that already includes Mexico, Indonesia, and India, with bids also potentially incoming from countries including South Korea, China, Qatar, Turkey, and Hungary.

In July, Australian architectural design firm Populous won a contract to prepare a 'strategic master plan' for Indian city Ahmedabad's bid to host the 2036 Olympic Games.

Following rule changes by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 2019, there is now no official open bidding process for the Olympics - instead, candidates each enter into private talks with the IOC before that body recommends one city to the voting IOC Session.

Brisbane in Australia, which will put on the 2032 Summer Olympics, was the first city to secure hosting rights in this manner, in July 2021.

The French capital of Paris is less than a year away from hosting the 2024 Summer Olympics, while Los Angeles, US, will do so in 2028.