A powerful group of people will work towards hosting the 2032 Olympics

Queensland’s most influential sport stars, politicians and corporate heavy hitters are being recruited to lead the state’s bid for the 2032 Olympics. Here’s who’s in the frame.

A POWERFUL group of Queensland’s most influential sport stars, politicians and corporate heavy hitters is being formed to lead the state’s bid for the 2032 Olympics.

It comes as Australian Olympic Committee boss John Coates flies to Switzerland today to officially notify his international colleagues of Queensland’s desire to host the Games.

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Mr Coates wants formal documentation submitted by June 30 ahead of the Tokyo Olympic Games in July.

The AOC has proposed the ‘Team Queensland’ board include recent Olympic and Paralympic representatives, politicians from all three tiers of government, and business leaders with experience in major sporting events.

The board will be charged with overseeing the detailed planning of the Queensland Olympics bid.

Minister for Sport Bridget McKenzie, APC President Jock O'Callaghan, Paralympian Curtis McGrath and Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Picture: Dylan Robinson

A new public company for the bid team still needs to be established, but its first meeting is planned for early next month with Prime Minister Scott Morrison as chair.

Olympic gold medallists Cathy Freeman, Susie O’Neill, Natalie Cook and Cate Campbell are in the frame for positions on the board, as are Magic Millions co-owner Katie Page, The Star Entertainment Group chairman John O’Neill and Mark Stockwell, who represented Australia in swimming at the 1984 Olympics and is now a Brisbane-based investor and property developer.

Annastacia Palaszczuk at a meeting to discuss Brisbane's potential Olympic bid.

They will join the established Olympics leadership group of Mr Coates, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner, Innovation Minister Kate Jones,

Scott Morrison’s Olympic representative and Fairfax MP Ted O’Brien, and Council of Mayors SEQ director and Sunshine Coast Mayor Mark Jamieson.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate, who is not a member of the SEQ Council of Mayors, would also likely be offered a board position given his region would host a number of sports and a second athletes village.

Paralympics Australia president Jock O’Callaghan and a recent Paralympic athlete will also be included.

“From the outset, we’ve 100 per cent been behind the bid,” Mr O’Callaghan said.

“We’re really keen to be able to participate once this (board) structure has been finalised.”

The International Olympic Committee executive board is meeting in Switzerland next week during the World Youth Olympic Games.

While Queensland’s bid is not on the meeting agenda, Mr Coates will seek out IOC president Thomas Bach to update him on Queensland’s progress.

John Coates - President of the Australian Olympic Committee will doorstop outside 1 William Street. Pic Peter Wallis

“I’ll hopefully have the opportunity to talk to the president about the potential for a Brisbane candidature now it’s official, and to have it moved from what the IOC calls a continuous dialogue phase to a targeted dialogue phase,” Mr Coates told The Sunday Mail.

“And I hope to interface with the Future Host Commission and talk to them about our plans.”

Being moved to a targeted dialogue phase would indicate the IOC sees Queensland as a genuine candidate for 2032, and would trigger the IOC’s Future Host Commission to engage in detailed discussions about how we would stage an Olympics.

Queensland is the most advanced of all candidates for the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics, with rival submissions likely to come from Indonesia, a multi-city bid from regional Germany, India and China.

Russia, which was planning to make a bid for St Petersburg, has been banned from bidding to host any major sporting events for four years, including the 2032 Games, as part of sanctions handed down by the World Anti Doping Authority last month.

The Council of Mayors SEQ kickstarted the Olympic bid idea in 2015 when it commissioned a pre-feasibility study to gauge whether a southeast Queensland Games could accelerate delivery of critical transport and infrastructure needs to support the region’s growing population.

In 2018, the idea gathered momentum on the back of The Courier-Mail and The Sunday Mail Future SEQ campaign. And last month, the Queensland Government formally backed the bid.

Mr Coates wrote to the IOC president this week to inform him Queensland has the support of the AOC Athletes Commission, national sporting member federations and Paralympics Australia, and to reinforce the bipartisan backing of all tiers of government and opposition.

“I don’t think our three levels of government could have been more thorough in the diligent work they have undertaken over the past four years,” he said.

“Getting us to this advanced stage, it’s quite extraordinary. There has been a very thorough amount of work done.”

WHO’S IN THE FRAME FOR THE QUEENSLAND 2032 BID TEAM:

Prime Minister Scott Morrison

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk

AOC president John Coates

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner

Innovation Minister Kate Jones

Member for Fairfax Ted O’Brien

Council of Mayors SEQ director Mark Jamieson

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate

Paralympics Australia president Jock O’Callaghan

Queensland Olympic Committee president and five-time Olympian Nat Cook

Olympians Cathy Freeman, Susie O’Neill, Cate Campbell

Queensland Paralympians

Magic Millions co-owner Katie Page

The Star Entertainment Group chairman John O’Neill

Property developer and 1984 Olympian Mark Stockwell

Originally published as A powerful group of people will work towards hosting the 2032 Olympics