2024 Paris Olympics: Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate reveals what he learned at high-end meetings

Mayor Tom Tate says he has renewed hope for the success of Queensland’s 2032 Olympic Games after a helter skelter first week in Paris. FIND OUT MORE

Mayor Tom Tate says he has renewed hope for the success of Queensland’s 2032 Olympic Games after a helter skelter first week in Paris.

Mr Tate is attending the 2024 Games as part of a delegation of southeast Queensland leaders learning more about the logistics of hosting the world’s biggest sporting event, as well as taking part in high-level meeting with sporting bosses from around the world.

Fellow Gold Coast resident – celebrated film director Baz Luhrmann – joined the mayor to watch the beach volleyball competition under the Eiffel Tower.

President of Volleyball Australia, Craig Carracher, pictured under the Eiffel Tower with film director Baz Luhrmann, Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate and South American Volleyball Confederation (CSV) president Marco Tullio Teixeira. Picture: Supplied by Mayor Tom Tate via FIVB

The event will be one of the sports the city will host in 2032.

Mr Tate said his trip was delivering dividends.

“Advocacy is a contact sport. It is important that I am here eyeballing the key decision makers,” he said.

“Getting the major sporting events and Olympic training camps to the Gold Coast is about building relationships.

“I have not been surprised to learn that the Gold Coast is incredibly well known around the world as an outstanding lifestyle city and a co-host of Brisbane 2032.

Mayor Tom Tate with Andrew Liveris, Paula Liveris

“All those I have met with are hoping to get to the Gold Coast in 2032, if not before, and that gives me great confidence that Brisbane 2032 will be highly success for our city and the broader region.”

Mr Tate had previously expressed misgivings about the 2032 event, particularly around the use of temporary venues for swimming instead of upgraded pre-existing infrastructure such as the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre.

He had also had concerns about the number of events the city will be hosting changing after the bid.

Mayor of Los Angeles Karen Bass and Mayor Tom Tate. Picture: Supplied

Meetings the Mayor has attended include with Brisbane 2032 Organising Committee chairman Andrew Liveris, multiple heads of World and Australian sporting bodies and Mayors from Queensland and across the world including French Mayors and Karen Bass, the Mayor of Los Angeles.

Mr Tate said meetings with logistic companies, including one from the Gold Coast, which have helped deliver the 2024 Games, had delivered useful information which would inform future decisions.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate attending a Paris City Accessibility session at the 2024 Olympic Games. Picture: Supplied

“It is an honour to travel on behalf of the city and to represent all Gold Coasters at such an amazing event as the Paris Olympics and while days and nights have been full of meetings and briefings with political and sporting dignitaries from across the globe, I have also been privileged to attend several sporting events as part of the Brisbane 2032 Games family,” he said.

“I have also met with local Gold Coast businesses involved in sport and major event delivery and been able to view first-hand the event and security overlays for the world’s biggest show – the Olympic Games.

“At a meeting with the Paris organisers of the Paralympic Games we discussed the importance of not only giving our amazing para-athletes the opportunity to compete at the highest level, but the even greater goal of ensuring our cities are more accessible every day.”

Accessibility is a key issue city leaders want to see progressed ahead of the 2032 Games.

Experience Gold Coast CEO John Warn used the Bulletin’s Future Gold Coast breakfast in late July to talk up the need for greater accessibility.

Mr Warn, whose daughter Holly will compete at the Paris Paralympics, said he was passionate about making the city more accessible.

“I’m a proud father of a child with a disability, I have learned about it first-hand so it is a real passion project for me and for the city,” he said.

“We have one massive natural advantage in the city around accessibility – we are largely flat.

“What we’ve been doing in the tourism space for two to three years is working on this to build out a destination management plan that includes a lot more, making sure that our accommodation and our experience providers are thinking about accessibility because there is no reason that we can’t become the best city for accessibility in all of Australia.”