Brisbane 2032 Olympics: Sebastian Coe warns against budget Games

A legendary Olympian has implored Brisbane Games organisers not to “nickel and dime” athletes when they finally agree on their main venues for 2032.

• Editor’s view: Tale of two cities

World Athletics boss Sebastian Coe has implored the embattled organisers of the Brisbane Olympics and Paralympics not to “nickel and dime” athletes when they finally agree on their main venues for 2032.

As the spectacular Paris Olympics gets into its stride, ­former Brisbane lord mayor Graham Quirk also issued a warning that Queensland’s Games risk failing to impress the world because of a lack of vision and an obsession with costs.

Brisbane’s preparations have already been hijacked by petty politics and squabbling over money. Among the most controversial suggestions is a plan to stage the biggest sport of the Olympics – track and field – at the dilapidated Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre (QSAC) at Nathan.

Even with a fresh coat of paint and a few extra seats, QSAC would still hold just over 40,000 spectators (reduced to 14,000 after the Games have ended), making it the smallest Olympic track-and-field stadium since Amsterdam in 1928.

In an exclusive interview, Coe, who also served as the president of the 2012 London Olympics – regarded by many as the best ever – said it wasn’t his job or intention to tell Brisbane’s organisers what to do.

But he said his one piece of advice to all Olympic organisers was to prioritise athletes – and the wishes of the local population – when making the key decisions.

Sebastian Coe at the Team Great Britain flag-bearer photocall. Picture: Richard Pelham/Getty Images

“Athletics is very important to us in Brisbane. I can’t remember a stronger Australian track-and-field team than the one you’re bringing here,” Coe said.

“You would be surprised if you heard me say anything other than this, however, that we want a strong track-and-field legacy in Brisbane.

“And ideally a permanent venue that is able to stage world-class athletics and serve as an inspirational hub both for coaching and administrative purposes, post the Games.”

As a former double Olympic gold medallist and head of the biggest sport of the Olympics, Coe still carries a lot of sway in global sport.

“The most demanding stakeholder any Games has is not people like me or the president of the IOC or the local mayor or International Federations, the most demanding stakeholder are local people,” Coe said.

“They’re going to ask you tough questions and … they’re going to be around. I get the fact that we’re going to have two weeks of great sport and Australia gets that, but if you’re going to build that, what are you going to do with it afterwards.”

Coe said he fully supported the government’s need to keep costs down, there were also other ways to cut spending.

“When it comes to penny-pinching – your expression, not mine – I think there are things that you can sensibly achieve on more constrained and controlled budgets,” he said.

“But don’t let that be about the athletes, don’t nickel-and-dime the athletes. That is really shortsighted.

Former Lord Mayor Graham Quirk. Picture: Tertius Pickard

“I’m not remotely suggesting that is what Brisbane has in mind, but I have watched over the last few Games where the athletes, and maybe sport is not maybe as central as it has been in the past.

“Let’s just remember that we are bringing the world together for the world’s best athletes of their generation … don’t have a constrained Games at the expense of the budget, at the expense of the athletes. That’s not going to work.”

Mr Quirk said he believed his proposal of a new multibillion-dollar stadium at Victoria Park could still be built, despite being ruled out by Premier Steven Miles and Opposition Leader David Crisafulli.

Mr Quirk led the review into Brisbane Olympics infrastructure, with its Victoria Park stadium key recommendation rejected by the Miles government in favour of upgrading QSAC at Nathan.

In Paris this week, Brisbane Olympics boss Andrew Liveris said Brisbane city was not a hillbilly town, and vowed to deliver on the Games “gift”, despite uncertainty on venues.

But Mr Quirk, who helped spearhead Queensland’s successful Olympic bid through the SEQ Council of Mayors, told the Sunday Mail that Brisbane was not an iconic city like Paris, London or even ­Beijing and needed vision to show itself proudly on the world stage in 2032.

“We are in a different position to the Londons and the Paris and Beijings where these cities’ names are known in every household around the world – Brisbane’s not,” he said.

Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre.

“This is our chance to show the world that’ll be wondering about this place called Brisbane, what we really look like, what we are.

“The things that we portray in these games will be critical to our very long-term success.”

Mr Quirk said Brisbane needed to be “careful not to get caught up in the immediate … becoming so obsessed with cost that we lose the plot”.

“If costs were a critical issue in Sydney, the Opera House would never have been built,” he said. “When you … look back at the cost benefits that structure has brought to Sydney – that iconic piece of architecture – it just shows that you do need to have vision … and you need to look at the long-term and not just the immediate.”

Despite Mr Miles and Mr Crisafulli rejecting his review’s suggested new $3bn-$3.4bn inner-city stadium at Victoria Park, Mr Quirk said he had not given up hope the proposal could be resurrected after the October state election.

Mr Crisafulli has vowed ­another Olympics infrastructure review if the LNP wins, as expected.

“I’m an optimist at heart,” Mr Quirk said.

“It shouldn’t be an election issue because the whole purpose of the Olympic and Paralympic Games is for everyone to come together and get behind what will be an opportunity to put our part of the world on the map.

“… what I do know is that at some point … in the next decade or so, a government of whatever colour is going to have build a new stadium because even with upgrades, the lifespan of the Gabba is limited.”

Mr Quirk said construction costs were continuing to ­escalate and “the longer time goes on, the more expensive things become”.

Flags of participating countries are carried during the opening ceremony. (Photo by Stephanie Lecocq / POOL / AFP)