JOHANNESBURG:

South Africa will not reconsider a bid for the 2020 Olympics, ending a long-running saga over whether the country will try to host the next available Summer Games. Officials from South Africa's sports ministry and the national Olympic committee said yesterday that there would be no bid for the 2020 Games after the sports minister had said he wanted to revive a possible candidature.

The country, which successfully hosted last year's football World Cup, will go for the 2024 Olympics instead, the sports ministry and Olympic committee said. The 2022 Commonwealth Games was also "certainly" on the agenda, said Sam Ramsamy of the South African Olympic Committee and Sports Confederation. No African country has ever hosted the Olympics or Commonwealth Games.

South Africa's Cabinet made the surprising announcement in May that it was not the right time for an Olympic bid. It wanted to focus on social priorities in a country where many people are still affected by poverty. The country was considered a strong 2020 contender following the widely praised 2010 World Cup.

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South Africa's chances were also boosted after they staged the 123rd International Olympic Committee session in Durban last month. The east coast city was favoured to be South Africa's candidate. Department of Sport and Recreation spokesman Paena Galane said the country had been lobbied by many IOC members at the Durban session to reconsider 2020. But Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula decided against asking the government to rethink its original decision.

"We are not going to resubmit the request to bid to Cabinet," Galane said. "There will be no bid from South Africa for the 2020 Olympics."