The race is on for the 2032 Olympic Games, and we’re backing a southeast Queensland bid

The starter’s pistol has been fired for the 2032 Olympic Games — and southeast Queensland cannot risk being left standing at the starting blocks when hosting the biggest sporting spectacle on the planet is at stake.

THE starter’s pistol has been fired for the 2032 Olympic Games — and south-east Queensland cannot risk being left standing, warns Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates.

“The opportunity is there now. Be careful not to let the moment pass,” Mr Coates said.

Today, The Courier-Mail joins our fellow News Corp Australia newspapers in the region – the Gold Coast Bulletin, Sunshine Coast Daily, Queensland Times and Toowoomba Chronicle – in backing an SEQ bid to host the biggest sporting spectacle on the planet.

Sporting stars, business leaders push for southeast Qld Olympics bid

Southeast Queensland backs Olympic bid in hope of fast-tracking infrastructure

Historic rule changes to the Games bid process passed by the International Olympic Committee Session in Switzerland on Wednesday dramatically boost the region’s chances of winning the right to stage the event.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will discuss the bid with International Olympic Committee chairman Thomas Bach on the side of this weekend’s G20 summit in Japan.

Mr Coates, a veteran of the Olympic movement, said there was no time to waste and he will be organising a meeting with the PM, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Brisbane Lord Mayor and SEQ Council of Mayors chairman Adrian Schrinner to plan the next steps towards a bid “as quickly as possible”.

“We still have to know the State Government has come on board,” he said.

News Corp Australasia executive chairman Michael Miller said an endless opportunity and extraordinary transformation for south-east Queensland awaits, and urged leaders to “now is the time to move”.

Olympic triple medallist swimmer and businessman Mark Stockwell, who chaired the successful bid for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, says an Olympic authority should be set up urgently to lead the planning for a 2032 Olympics and Paralympics.

“It’s very important for this to have success over the long term, not just the event but the legacy, to have a group of people who can do all the planning early – and importantly to bring the nation with you,” he said.

1984 Olympic swimmers Mark and Tracy Stockwell say Queensland needs to set up an Olympic authority urgently. Picture: AAP Image/Josh Woning.

The changes to the Olympic Charter pave the way for the region to be selected as the location for the 2032 Games potentially as soon as the IOC session immediately before the Tokyo 2020 Games next July if we present a well-advanced, attractive proposal to the newly created Future Hosts Commission.

Mr Coates says a more likely time frame for choosing a preferred host would be at the session the following year. “That’s 11 years to prepare and to build the impetus,” he said.

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach from Germany (left) speaks with Australian IOC member John Coates. Picture: AP/Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone.

An immediate priority was for the State Government to undertake a full economic assessment, building on the feasibility report for the Games feasibility report for SEQ Mayors in February.

It is estimated the new candidacy process will slash the cost of winning the right to host from as much as $40 million to about $10 million.