Brisbane launches 2032 Olympic Games promotion with short video clip in Paris
Brisbane Olympic organisers have unveiled their global branding tagline in a short video that omitted some crucial details about the controversial Games.
Brisbane 2032 Olympic organisers have unveiled their global branding tagline “Shine Brightest, Together” as the theme to introduce their Games to the world.
Showed to audiences in Paris as the world eagerly awaits the 2024 Opening Ceremony, the clip boldly claims to show “what the road to perfection looks like”.
Bizarrely, Brisbane gets barely a mention in the short video, and the Sunshine and Gold Coasts are omitted entirely, the Courier Mail reports.
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The two-and-a-half-minute video instead highlights iconic Olympic moments featuring Mohammed Ali, Nadia Comaneci, and Cathy Freeman to give the world a different kind teaser for the Sunshine State.
With aerial shots of the Brisbane River, the video features flashes of Indigenous references, welcoming smiles, athletes hugging, making heart symbols, and famous Olympic moments, including Jesse Owens and the archer opening the Barcelona Olympics.
The announcement comes as debates continue among politicians and Brisbane organisers about the venues that will be used for the event, including whether to invest billions in a new stadium for the ceremonies and track and field events.
Debates over how to handle the massive event are still ongoing, three years after securing the Games.
Brisbane 2032 president Andrew Liveris hinted that Brisbane may struggle as a global brand while addressing the International Olympic Committee.
In an interview with the Olympic Information Service, which is distributed to global media outlets at the Paris Olympics, Liveris admitted Brisbane was lacking in a few qualities that made Paris a global icon.
“We don’t have the iconic structures of a Paris, or the celebrity culture of a Los Angeles, or even the iconic structures of Sydney. Brisbane brand awareness is very low in the world,” he said.
“We’re more like a Barcelona before they hosted the Games. I don’t like the term ‘tier-two city’ because it implies that we’re second in the attributes of being a city.
“We are people that are multicultural. We are not perfect, and we have work to do, but we are going to show you what the road to perfection looks like.
“To be inclusive, by giving our First Nations people a big say in how we display ourselves.
“To take the 60,000-year culture of our First Nations people and not do tokenism by just showing off at the Opening Ceremony and the Closing Ceremony, which we will do, but integrate their culture in the delivery of the experience.”
In a subtle critique aimed at the current Paris Olympics organisers, who have controversially closed 6km of the Seine riverside, Liveris said Brisbane’s entire city would be opened to the public.
“We are not going to up-end the entire city or region to host the Games. The Games are going to be additive and amplify,” he said.
This week in Paris is Brisbane 2032’s first opportunity to showcase their awareness campaign, which will run for another three years until they can officially sign up sponsors.
An inquiry into how prepared Australia is for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games will examine how the major event will leave a legacy of sporting infrastructure.
The senate inquiry was launched after former Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s decision to dump an independent infrastructure agency to oversee projects for the 2032 Games in favour of keeping it in-house.
Key stakeholders were left in the dark when the then-Palaszczuk government announced it would rebuild the Gabba Stadium for the Games, a decision that has since been axed.
Senator Richard Colbeck said the former Coalition government was unaware the state government was looking at the Gabba as an option when it agreed to go 50/50 split on the Olympic bid.
“For me, this project, the Gabba and all of the problems it’s brought with it, is symptomatic of the politics the Queensland government played with the Olympic bid,” the former Morrison Sport Minister said.
“It should not be forgotten that without the commitment of the Commonwealth government to provide a 50/50 funding split, it would not be happening.
“They gave us a list of projects in 2021, that list did not involve the Gabba.
“This is the politics that has been played with this Games bid by the Queensland government all the way through to the detriment of the progress of getting the job done.”
Mr Colbeck said Wednesday’s public hearing had raised “more questions” about the Gabba decision – both before and after it was scrapped – and how the state government went about the planning.
“We were completely bushwhacked by the Queensland government when they announced the decision to put the Gabba on the table for the Olympics and Paralympic Games in 2032,” he said.