IOC president Thomas Bach believes New Zealand should look into the feasibility of hosting an Olympic Games.
Bach has led strategic changes under a roadmap entitled Olympic Agenda 2020, which include making the bidding and staging of the Games cheaper and more sustainable, and encouraging more cities to bid.
He says New Zealand is a great sporting country and noted that it had successfully hosted the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
"It would be very well appreciated if New Zealand would look into the hosting the Olympic Games one day," he told journalists in Auckland.
"I think the Olympic Agenda is opening doors for other countries than the traditional host countries. We think you cannot reserve the right to host the Olympic Games just to 20 countries in the world."
A 1976 Olympic fencing gold medallist, Bach took over as IOC president in 2013 and is on a two-day visit to New Zealand.
The German said the IOC in the past laid out a set of conditions for bidders.
He said there would still be minimum requirements, but after that "we are very open".
"What we are doing now is we are asking potential host countries, how do you think the Olympic Games would fit best into your long-term planning with regard to sports, socially, financially, ecologically?" he said.
"Then give us your ideas and we can discuss together whether we can make it happen."
In terms of New Zealand's lack of large stadiums, Bach said one of the major aspects of Agenda 2020 was sustainability.
He said the new approach was about legacy and no one wanted venues built that were no use afterwards.
"For athletes, the most important thing is not the number of spectators; the most important is that the stadium is packed with fans," he said.
"Every athlete prefers a 5000-seater stadium packed with 5500, than having 10,000 spectators in a 20,000 stadium, so there is great flexibility."
Asked if he believe New Zealand could host an Olympics on its own, Bach said he hadn't seen any of the country's sporting facilities.
"I'm not in a position to answer," he said.
"This exactly is what would have to be discussed if the NZ Olympic Committee said, `OK we come to Lausanne'. Let's have a look."
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