[7] San Diego emerged as the preferred bidder and was subject to a vote by the ANOC General Assembly at a meeting in Washington, D.C., on 30 October 2015;[6] the result was the unanimous approval of the city to be hosts of the inaugural Games.

[11] Then, on 30 May 2019, ANOC stripped San Diego of its hosting rights, after the local organisers failed to generate enough private funding (reportedly $40 million)[12] to hold the Games in the city.

[14] This left just four months for Doha to prepare to stage the Games before the scheduled October start date but successfully delivered the event on time.

[17] The latter was unable to be held in Doha due to a lack of suitable waves; ANOC still planned to have the surfing take place at a later date, under the Games' branding, and likely to be in the original venue of San Diego.

[18] Of the world's 206 NOCs, 97 competed:[19][20] In February 2021, two medal winning athletes (one from Iran and one from Nigeria) were found guilty of doping offences committed at the Games.