This announcement by the head of government reflects a longstanding desire across Poland, from sports fans and officials to politicians, to host an Olympic Games, summer or winter, state news agency PAP has reported.
President Andrzej Duda has previously highlighted the country's ambition to be a host nation.
Speaking at an international conference in the southern ski resort of Zakopane in September last year, Duda said: "After consultations with the Polish Olympic Committee and the sports minister and his team, it is our intention to start bidding for the Summer Olympic Games in our country in 2036."
However, subsequent discussions postponed these plans to the 2040-2044 timeframe, the PAP news agency said in analysis piece.
The concept of hosting the Summer Olympics in Warsaw was initially proposed before World War II by then-Mayor Stefan Starzyński, who planned for the 1950s.
The project was halted by the outbreak of the war and the devastation which ensued.
Another attempt in 1992 by fencers Ryszard Parulski and Wojciech Zabłocki also fell through despite detailed preparations, according to PAP.
Poland has also pursued the Winter Olympics, with Zakopane failing to secure the 2006 Winter Games, which were awarded to Turin.
A joint bid with Slovakia for the 2022 Winter Olympics proposed by Piotr Nurowski, then-head of the Polish Olympic Committee, was not realized.
This envisioned Kraków hosting ice sports and Zakopane focusing on snow events, with Slovakia managing skiing competitions.
Despite the potential for significant state-funded infrastructure and tourism investments to support such an event, Kraków residents rejected an Olympic bid in a referendum during the 2014 European Parliament elections.
Nevertheless, Poland's capacity for hosting major sporting events is well-established, officials say, demonstrated by the 2012 European soccer championships, co-hosted with Ukraine, the Winter Universiades in 1993 and 2001 in Zakopane, and the 3rd European Games in Kraków-Małopolska last year.
(rt/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP
