Dubai still considering Olympic bid

Dubai is still considering a bid to host the Olympics in 2020, said the ruler of the Arab emirate Sunday as leaders and executives from the sports industry gathered in the city for an international convention.

Dubai has spent billions of dollars to build sport venues and host high profile golf and tennis tournaments. Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum praised Dubai's sports infrastructure and said Dubai has "a lot to offer" to the Olympic movement.

"There is a strong 'can do' culture here," Mohammed said in comments, released Sunday by the ruler's media office. Dubai continues to evaluate "the costs and benefits" of a bid, Mohammed also said and added, that no formal paperwork has been filed yet.

Dubai is the second Gulf state trying for the Olympics. Doha, the capital of Qatar, failed to make the list of finalists for the 2016 Games.

Dubai has run far ahead of its Gulf competitors on the sports front by linking investment with a decade-long effort to attract tourists and entertain the Asian and Western expatriates that make up most of the emirate's 1.5 million inhabitants.

The Gulf emirate has earned high marks for hosting ATP and WTA tour tennis events, the Dubai Desert Classic golf tournament and horse racing's Dubai World Cup.

Since Dubai has been hammered by the global financial crisis in the past months, the ruling Al Maktoum family has scaled back some of its development plans, but sports events have not been a causality in Dubai's struggle to pay off its massive debt.

Last month a $2 billion racing complex was inaugurated. Managers of Dubai Sports City said progress has been undeterred on the cluster of mega-venues that will stage sports events and set up training facilities and specialized academies for golf, tennis, soccer, rugby, cricket and swimming.

Sheik Mohammed has relied on such large-scale global ambitions to help drive his territory from little more than a patch of sand 15 years ago to the Middle East's business, sports and tourism hub.

The harsh economic reality has caused Mohammed to include some caution in his comments on Dubai's possible Olympic bid.

"We will have to take an honest look at our weaknesses as well as our strengths," Mohammed said Sunday. "I can assure you of this, though: if we decide to make a bid for the Olympics, we will be in it to win."