ABSTRACT
Previous research has revealed that Olympic bidding can be a significant factor for cities in terms of realising sports-related projects, while also increasing the pace of various other types of improvements. Turkey’s Olympic bidding cases have had many particularities and interesting points, beginning with Istanbul’s long-running dream to host an Olympic Games, which was first sought in 1992. This has included a problematic history with doping, in a country with an assortment of sporting scandals and the existence of an ‘Olympic Law’. This chapter discusses first the general potential impacts of Olympic bidding on candidate countries, then assesses Turkey’s previous Olympic bids, outlining a brief history of doping in Turkey, and finally concludes with a discussion of how Turkey’s 2020 Olympic bid has impacted the development of anti-doping policies in the country.
