Opinion: King Wally must be the one to light flame for Brisbane 2032

If the King of the Cauldron is not lighting the flame on the Olympic cauldron for Brisbane 2032, I don’t want to know about it, writes tourism reporter Jeremy Pierce.

A French tourism executive’s visit to Brisbane has delivered a poignant lesson for our 2032 Olympics.

The Frenchman, who visited Queensland as part of his role with a major tourism company, was being entertained by Aussie delegates when someone from the Victorian office said it was a pity he wasn’t visiting Melbourne because that was” the most European” of Australian cities.

“If I wanted Europe,” the visiting exec replied, presumably in an accent dripping with Frenchness, “I could have stayed in France.”

There’s a lesson there for organisers of the Brisbane Olympics as the world digests the magnificent spectacle laid on by the Paris Games - don’t try to be something you’re not.

Aussies travelling through Europe often experience a sense of cultural cringe.

There are churches, castles and temples hundreds of years older than Australia’s oldest building.

Wally Lewis celebrating another State of Origin match at The Cauldron. Picture: Gregg Porteous

With a city so rich in history, the Paris Olympics featured events held in the shadows of the Eiffel Tower and saw nods to such colourful historical characters as Mary Antoinette and the emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.

We can’t compete with that.

But we don’t have to.

With apologies to little old Napoleon, best known for getting his butt spanked by the Poms, we’ve got our own emperor - King Wally, the emperor of Lang Park.

And if the King of the Cauldron is not lighting the flame on the Olympic cauldron, then I don’t want to know about it.

We looked on with envy at vision from Paris of the Eiffel Tower, of Notre Dame cathedral and the Arc de Triomphe.

But wait til the world sees our beach volleyball on our golden sands lapped by the sparkling Pacific Ocean, or the surfing, or the triathlon, or the marathon, or mountain biking.

A telecast sprinkled with spectacular footage of Gold and Sunshine Coast beaches, Moreton Island, K’gari, the reef and the rainforest is going to do for us what all of Paris’ iconic sites have done for France.

LA in 2028 is going to turn on star power that we simply don’t have.

Their Games will be dazzled with appearances from some of the biggest celebs on the planet in a city where stars are made.

The Eiffel Tower during the Men's Marathon on day 15 of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Esplanade Des Invalides. Picture: Getty

Our biggest screen star is a cartoon dog and our biggest band is a bunch of blokes who have made it clear there’s no chance in hell they’ll be getting back together.

And even if they did, very few people outside Australia have ever heard of them anyway.

But Queensland isn’t about glitz and glamour.

Without getting into the debate over stadiums, it’s our natural setting that is going to make the Queensland Games stand apart and spark a tourism boom which should keep the state pumping for decades.

Our climate, which should lead to 16 days of sun-drenched blue skies with temperatures around 23 degrees, will be perfect for athletes and spectators left sweltering through the height of a French summer.

It will be rolled gold advertising for Queensland.

Spectators will (hopefully) remember how safe Queensland is, how friendly we are and if our infrastructure can ever get its act together, they will appreciate being able to get around to decent venues without the fuss of smog-choked traffic jams.

And that French tourism exec? Where do you think they took him for dinner?

One of Brisbane’s best French restaurants?

No.

They took him to a surf club and told him to have the chicken parmy.

And from all reports, he loved it.