By Phil Lutton
Australia is officially in the box seat to secure the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) confirmed it would enter into exclusive discussions with organisers of a “very advanced” south-east Queensland bid.
IOC president Thomas Bach said the body’s executive had accepted the recommendation of its Future Hosts Commission to install Brisbane as a non-binding preferred candidate. Bach stressed it was not a final decision and the matter had been the subject of “intensive debate” before being finalised.
The move means the IOC will now engage in detailed and targeted discussions with Brisbane organisers and the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) over coming months. If all of the conditions are met, Australia will in just over a decade be hosting its third Olympics, with a final call to be made as early as July ahead of Tokyo 2021.
It’s a momentous development for Australian sport, while the speed at which Brisbane’s bid has progressed has surprised many not privy to the background machinations. However, the Future Host Commission made it clear Australia was seen as a very safe pair of hands amid global uncertainty and had offered lofty praise for the detail of the Queensland presentation.
Future Host Commission chair Kristin Kloster Aasen said the move did not mean Brisbane was a “done deal” but, if discussions continued to advance, it would be recommended to the IOC that it be installed as the official host of the 2032 Games. It would take a disastrous turn of events for Brisbane to lose out.
“It’s a very advanced project that sits really well with us. It has an excellent masterplan. It bears the signs of a project that has been moulded for a number of years with high-level support of government. Good legacy plan, good venue plan ... there are many, many things that made us want to put this forward,” Aasen said.
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach at the IOC executive board meeting.Credit: Greg Martin/IOC
AOC president John Coates was already in Brisbane when the announcement was made. He told morning radio that the Games would have an operating cost of $4.5b and would break even after IOC funding ($2.5b) sponsorships ($1b) and ticketing ($1b).
“These Games break even and that’s with a fair contingency,” Coates told 2GB.
“The IOC wants you to use existing and temporary venues. We have 90 per cent in that category and 10 per cent planned.”
Brisbane spent less than $10m on its feasibility studies and presentation to the IOC, making it among the cheapest bidders in history. Coates said it would be a massive boost for sport around the nation.
Australia is on the verge of securing a third Olympics, 32 years after the wildly successful Sydney Games of 2000.Credit: Dallas Kilponen
“It’s a wonderful stimulus for sport, all the kids can dream of being an Olympian in ’32.”
Bach defended suggestions that his close ally Coates had any influence on the decision, given Coates chaired the group that made changes to the bidding process in 2019.
He said Coates had zero input into the decision and wasn’t part of the executive decision to green light the Host Commission’s recommendation.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she would “ensure that we get the funding to make this a reality”.
Key factors
The IOC’s full feasibility plan for Brisbane 2032, which was finalised in January, has also been made public, with some of the key influencing factors including:
- The very advanced Games concept, which is fully aligned with Olympic Agenda 2020 and using 80 to 90 per cent existing or temporary venues.
- The venue masterplan, which has already been discussed with International Sports Federations and the International Paralympic Committee.
- The high level of experience in hosting major international sports events.
- The favourable climate conditions for athletes in July and August, despite the current global challenges caused by climate change.
- The alignment of the proposed Games with south-east Queensland’s long-term strategy to improve local transport infrastructure, absorb demographic change and promote economic growth.
- Australia’s sporting success throughout modern Olympic history. The last Games in Oceania were Sydney 2000, which would mean the Games returning to the continent 32 years later.
- The existing and planned transport infrastructure and experience in traffic management, which can adequately meet the demands of the Olympic Games and were successfully implemented for the Commonwealth Games in 2018.
- The existing hotel accommodation inventory, which already meets Games requirements.
- Strong support from all three levels of government, as confirmed on several occasions by highest-level representatives from the City of Brisbane, the Southeast Queensland Council of Mayors, the State of Queensland and the federal government.
- The strong public support and that of the private sector.
- Australia’s high scores on human development indices, in particular its great progress towards achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
She said the state already had 85 per cent of venues needed for the Games.
“We don’t have to build huge stadiums that are not going to be used in the future and this gives us hope and opportunity as we go through our economic recovery and plan for the future.
“We can actually give hope to our young students right across the nation that they could compete in an Olympics here in Queensland in 2032.”
Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said the chance to host the 2032 Olympic Games is the “best opportunity that our city, our region and our state has had in generations”.
The 2032 contest was expected to include Doha, Qatar – which is hosting the 2030 Asian Games – and Budapest, Hungary, which withdrew late from the 2024 contest to pave the way for Los Angeles being offered the 2028 edition.
Hungary’s Olympic body said last month it set up a feasibility study for a 2032 bid to report back next year. China, Germany, India, Indonesia and Russia were also working on possible bids for 2032.
Coates said the Games would have an operating cost of $4.5 billion and would break even after IOC funding ($2.5 billion), sponsorships ($1 billion) and ticketing ($1 billion).