Mr Omar is reported to have said that Dubai hoped to submit a bid to host the Olympic Games within the next eight years.

While Mr Omar is not the first person to talk about Dubai's potential to host an Olympics, he is a senior figure from the right part of the government making positive overtones about a subject that has not been aired in public for a while.

If indeed a Dubai bid does eventually emerge, that would be exciting news for the Middle East, which has never hosted an Olympics.  Most people would have to believe that Dubai stands a real chance of winning, especially after its successful bid to host Expo 2020.

Of course, success breeds success, and when it comes to hosting major events Dubai does this brilliantly.  The Emirate already attracts a plethora top tier sports tournaments and is able to keep them year after year precisely because they are hosted so well.