2032 Olympics: Brisbane considered shoo-in as Tokyo steps up 2021 plans for July

The announcement on Thursday that Brisbane is seen as a shoo-in to host the 2032 Olympics is the best sign yet that this year’s rescheduled spectacular in Tokyo will proceed as planned.

Nine year-old gymnasts Georgia Sheppard, Zara Andrews, and Stephanie Tull, will be Twenty during the proposed Brisbane 2032 Olympics, Kedron Delta Gymnastics. Photographer: Liam Kidston.

The confirmation that Tokyo’s Olympics would go ahead this year was not only music to the ears of the world’s athletes training amid Covid uncertainty, it all but assured Brisbane as host of the 2032 Games.

In announcing the Tokyo Games will proceed as planned, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach quashed once and for all the last remaining threat to Brisbane’s bid - that the Japanese capital would be given 2032 if this year’s Games were cancelled.

“There is a clear commitment of the IOC, of the Japanese Government, of the Organising Committee, of Tokyo Metropolitan Government, that these Games will provide a safe environment for all the participants,” Bach said.

Sporting participants of all ages will be delighted with the news about Brisbane.

At the same briefing on Wednesday, the IOC confirmed Brisbane was its preferred candidate to host the 2032 Games, beating potential bids from Qatar, Hungary, China, Germany, Indonesia and India.

Olympic sources said this was as clear a message as any that Brisbane’s bid is a shoo-in with a formal rubber stamping possibly now just five months away.

Brisbane’s bid team are already working overtime to get the vote held as soon as possible to scuttle any chance of the other disgruntled bidders from mounting a rearguard challenge.

It’s not just Australia that wants Brisbane to get the Games, with senior foreign Olympic officials telling News Corp they were united behind the bid because it will serve as proof of concept that relatively smaller populated regions can host the Games after megacities Beijing, London, Rio, Tokyo, Paris and Los Angeles were all selected as hosts.

Opponents of the smaller town model have been using the pandemic to try and halt the momentum Brisbane has built up, even though the IOC has repeatedly said that cancellation was never an option.

Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates is delighted with the announcement.

What Olympic officials have said though is that the Tokyo Games will be different from any other edition.

Competitors have been warned they will have to pass Covid tests to participate and abide by strict social distancing and health rules – similar to the procedures used at other events including the Australian Open tennis championship.

“They have shown that it is possible,” Bach said.

No-one knows more about the intricate planning for Tokyo than Australian Olympic Committee President John Coates, who is the chairman of the co-ordination commission, and bullish everything is still on track.

The availability of a vaccine has strengthened hopes that athletes will be protected from illness when they arrive in Tokyo though Coates said getting a jab was not mandatory.

Thomas Bach said the Australian Open showed what was possible with major sporting events.

“Not compulsory, we can‘t do that,” Coates said.

“But it is certainly being encouraged.”

Speaking in Brisbane after the IOC named the Queensland capital as its top choice for the 2032 Games, Coates said planning for Tokyo was now proceeding at full speed, with a ruling on how many spectators would be allowed to attend expected within the next two months.

“A final decision will be taken by the Japanese government,” Coates said.

“It‘s governments that decide these things on what’s safe and, a bit later, probably March, April.”

Originally published as 2032 Olympics: Brisbane considered shoo-in as Tokyo steps up 2021 plans for July