It's not easy to talk about the Olympics 12 years before they take place, especially when the candidate is an Arab country with little Olympic history (alongside others such as Indonesia, Chile, India, Mexico, Turkey and Poland), extreme heat during the competition months and a culture that is less friendly than the West, especially to women (although Saudi officials say some efforts are being made).

Logically, one could consider changing the dates to alleviate the heat (moving to the autumn in the northern hemisphere), as was done for Qatar 2022, which was held between November and December, but this is not so easy to approve by an International Olympic Committee that has historically been conservative, although it has recently opened up to new paradigms.

Faced with this scenario, and with the aim of continuing to grow as a host of major events (it already hosts golf, motor sport, tennis and even the most important event outside the Olympics, the FIFA World Cup), Saudi Arabia is preparing for these Olympic Games, which will begin on 26 July with the opening ceremony of Paris 2024.

Despite its petrodollars, the Saudi kingdom remains a minor player in sport, especially in Olympic disciplines, with only four medals (two silvers and two bronzes) in its history, far behind powerhouses such as the United States, which has won 2939 medals (1166 golds) in the Summer and Winter Olympics.

In fact, they rank below small countries such as Singapore or Suriname, to name but a few, which outstrip the Saudis in the historical medal tally. Qatar (15 times smaller in population), perhaps their main rival in the Arab world around the Persian Gulf, has twice as many medals (8) and two golds.

At the last Games, Team Saudi Arabia had 33 athletes, the largest delegation they have ever sent to a Summer Games, and Tareg Hamedi's silver medal in karate was the only medal for the delegation.

This year, they return with equestrian athletes, who have won the most medals. The Arabs, who have been passionate about horses for centuries, have made them a cult for years, and this time they could win at least one medal in this discipline.

After being absent from Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, they are returning to Olympic competition with the aim of bettering or at least matching their performances at London 2012 and Sydney 2000, where they won two of their four Olympic medals (both bronze in the team and individual competitions).

For Paris, the British mare Equine America Spacecake was sold to the Saudi Arabian Equestrian Federation at the end of 2022 and helped the country qualify with Khaled Almobty and his teammates Ramzy al-Duhami, Abdullah Sharbatly and Abdul Rahman al-Rajhi.

In a sign of recent openness, there will also be a female representative for Saudi Arabia for the first time in history. Taekwondo athlete Donia Abu Talib is the first woman to qualify for the Olympic Games, a significant step forward for the country, even if we Westerners have taken it for granted as the norm for decades, if not more than a century.

There are still other athletes with a chance of joining the 33 in the Saudi delegation, including those in athletics, judo and table tennis.

With the Saudis hosting the Asian Cup in 2027 and almost certainly the World Cup in 2034 (they are the only candidates), as well as the Asian Games in 2034, talk of a Saudi bid for the next Summer Olympics after Brisbane 2032 is not far-fetched.

As always, the Olympics or the World Cup are used to project power, conduct political propaganda and 'sell the country' to new global business players who are often reluctant to invest or consider this part of the world beyond the business of extracting hydrocarbons. The Saudis know this, but they also know that it will take many strategic steps to get there.