Brisbane Olympics: Bold vision to make River City the sports tech hub of the world

Queensland will become the global home of sports technology under an ambitious plan by the man chosen to lead the government’s 2032 Olympics Legacy Committee, and the building blocks are already in place for such a vision.

Queensland would become the global home of sports tech under an ambitious plan by the man chosen to lead the government’s 2032 Olympics Legacy Committee.

Sports Minister Stirling Hinchliffe has told The Courier-Mail and Nova’s Toward the Games podcast the building blocks were already in place for such a vision – and that he was confident sports tech and sports science would transform not only the Games but Brisbane, the southeast and Queensland into the future.

“I am very ambitious about how we can make Queensland, make Brisbane the home of sports tech globally,” Mr Hinchliffe said in the podcast’s latest episode, released on Wednesday.

He also said that in 10 years time the Olympic and Paralympics Games viewing experience would not be limited to television or the radio.

“We’ve got to be ahead of the curve and thinks what the virtual reality version of the games will be,” Minister Hinchliffe said.

“What’s the interactive experience of games?”

Mr Hinchliffe, who is also Minister Assisting the Premier on Olympic and Paralympic Sport and Engagement, said it was important “unexpected people” like younger generations were consulted by the Committee to ensure they benefited from the Games’ legacy.

“One of the things that I keep saying to people is we’ve got to remember that the people we really want to be running these games, and to being the great beneficiaries out of these games, weren’t even born when the 2000 Olympics happened,” he said.

“It’s very important that we stay very future focused.”

The Minister said another focus of the Legacy Committee that he will chairs would be to look at how the Games’ legacy would honour First Nations people.

While pointing to the “great homegrown” start-ups in Queensland, he said it was important to bring the industry’s “very best” to the state where they could grow.

But he said a “10 year runway” was both a challenge and an opportunity because decisions around evolving technology couldn’t be made “too early”.

President Andrew Liveris AO address the media at a press conference before the inaugural Organising Committee (BOCOG) Board Meeting for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. NewsWire: Sarah Marshall

The Minister also said it didn’t come as a shock when he wasn’t appointed to the Games’ Organising Committee Board because he’d had “some great discussions” about the importance of its legacy with the Premier – who is a vice president.

It comes as the BOCOG Board met for the first time on Wednesday, where appointing a chief executive officer was the top agenda item.

President Andrew Liveris wouldn’t be drawn on whether outgoing AFL boss Gill McLachlan was in the running for the role, instead saying there would be a recruitment process.

Mr Liveris said “inclusion is inclusion on every level” when asked what his thoughts were about whether transgender people should be able to compete in elite sport.

“We’re in a different century than last century and so we’ve got to pay respect to everybody’s role and nationality,” he said.

Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates, who also sits on the Board, said “one size doesn’t fit all” and that transgender athletes competed in the Games.

But he said each sport could make their own decisions.