Push to lure national sports bodies to Brisbane by 2032 Olympics

The 2032 Games is a chance for Brisbane to lift its dismal record in attracting national sporting federations from other states, the Lord Mayor says.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner visited Lausanne, Switzerland, for a world Olympic cities meeting.

The 2032 Games is a chance for Brisbane to poach national sporting federations from other states, just like Paris used its Olympics to try to lure the world’s top sports agencies, Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner says.

Brisbane is the headquarters for only two of the 27 major Olympic sports — diving and weightlifting, both based at Chandler.

Almost every other one is based in Sydney, Canberra or Melbourne.

Even surfing, headquartered at Coolangatta, has its high performance centre in NSW.

Mr Schrinner raised the idea after recently meeting international sporting federation representatives at the Smart Cities & Sport Summit in Lausanne in Switzerland, home of the International Olympic Committee.

He spoke to the director of the Lausanne Capitale Olympique Foundation, whom he said was “very encouraging’’ about the opportunity for Queensland to use the Games to attract national sports federations.

“Why should they be in Sydney? Why should they be in Melbourne?’’ Mr Schrinner said.

“Why shouldn’t they be in the Olympic capital?

‘We’re keen to start working with some of those national federations to see if any of them are planning to relocate their offices in the coming years and whether we can do anything to help them relocate to Queensland and Brisbane.’’

Mr Schrinner also attended the World Union of Olympic Cities, the first time a Brisbane Lord Mayor had attended.

Cities represented included Barcelona, Tokyo, Paris, Los Angeles and Seoul.

Mr Schrinner visited Lausanne to discuss the Olympics. FILE PHOTO: istock

Mr Schrinner said he would put Brisbane up for a place on its committee when key executive positions came up for renewal next year.

“It was made very clear to me that they would very much like Brisbane to put themselves (sic) forward,'' he said.

In a detailed 20-minute address to Tuesday’s council meeting about his trip, Mr Schrinner also talked about visiting Swiss manufacturer Hess’ factory in Bellach where it was building Brisbane’s Metro buses.

The cost of Mr Schrinner’s visit, plus one accompanying staff member, was budgeted for up to $14,520 each.

Deputy Mayor Krista Adams, who has previously delivered a report into her learnings from a visit to the Paris Games, also briefly addressed council on her Paralympic findings.

Originally published as Push to lure national sports bodies to Brisbane by 2032 Olympics