Turkmenistan's new olympic development could be blessing or curse

The sports complex being built in Ashgabat will be the largest and most state-of-the-art of its kind in Central Asia, underscoring Turkmenistan’s position as a regional power due to the country’s extensive natural gas and oil reserves, while its completion will also illustrate the growing presence of the country in the international community.

Although the government has been tight-lipped on when a bid for the Olympics might be made, there is much speculation that the country may nominate itself to host the 2020 Olympic Games, as these are the games which the next round of bidding will be for, following London’s successful bid for the 2012 games and Rio de Janeiro’s planned hosting of the 2016 games.

The next round of bidding will take place between 2011 and 2013 and it is during this time that the first phase of the Ashgabat Olympic complex will be completed, showcasing the capacity of the city to invest in the infrastructure needed to host the largest and most prestigious international sporting event in the world.

The complex’s Olympic Stadium will be capable of seating 60,000 people, according to early press material released to Turkmenistan news media, while additional facilities will include a 15,000-capacity gym, swimming pools, tennis courts, a 10,000-capacity hockey stadium, a Paralympics complex and several dozen other facilities.

It will be the very best of its kind in the region and will be built alongside other major infrastructure projects, such as the US $1.6 billion construction of the news Ashgabat international airport. The same company that has been contracted to build the Olympic complex is reportedly bidding to build the new airport as well.

The Turkish company Polimeks Insaat will oversee the construction of the entire complex, which will be built to the strict standards set out by the International Association of Athletes Federation, the International Football Federations Association, and the International Olympic Committee and will be the centrepiece of the 2017 Asian Games, or Asian Olympics, which Ashgabat will host.

The entire complex is expected to be finished in 2016 and the Olympic Stadium will naturally be the focal point of the games, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies. The Olympic Village, ice hockey palace and Olympic Stadium alone will take up 157 hectares of land.