Brisbane 2032 Olympics: Delays push back sport selection deadline

Four years of dithering by politicians has forced the International Olympic Committee to break its own rules for a key Brisbane 2032 deadline. VOTE IN OUR POLL

Four wasted years of dithering by politicians over venues for the Brisbane 2032 Games has forced the International Olympic Committee to break its own rules over the mandated timeline for sports selection.

Despite Brisbane having been given the longest runway of any host city in modern history, the IOC has been forced to relax its usual seven-year deadline for the in-principle sports program to be agreed, by a year to 2026.

The IOC has revealed that while normally an in-principle sports program is delivered seven years before the Games, Brisbane needs an extension of another year so organisers could review and validate critical sporting infrastructure projects.

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The delay, forced by almost four years of political indecision by former Labor premiers Steven Miles and Annastacia Palaszczuk, is an embarrassing blunder for Brisbane.

The state government has yet to settle on a finalised plan for venues more than 1330 days after Brisbane was granted the Olympics.

LNP Premier David Crisafulli has promised to unveil a final blueprint at The Courier-Mail’s Future Brisbane lunch next Tuesday, following his own 100-day independent review that he kicked off a few weeks after winning office last October.

The IOC statement said: “As per Rule 45 of the Olympic Charter, the sports program for a specific edition of the Olympic Games is decided by the IOC Session in principle seven years prior to the Games, unless the IOC EB decides otherwise.

“Following discussions between the Brisbane 2032 Organising Committee and the IOC, it was agreed that it would be beneficial if the initial sports program decision were to be finalised next year, which would be approximately six years prior to the Olympic Games.”

Brisbane Organising Committee president Andrew Liveris said the delay meant the Olympic and Paralympic sports could now be chosen together, for the first time.

Mr Liveris said approving both sports programs in the same year was a sensible move in that it would streamline sport engagement and delivery processes for the organising committee.

“Following the Australian and Queensland government’s confirmation on venues available for Games use, we will assess and update our venue master plan,” Mr Liveris said.

“(This will enable) alignment of our sport program for presentation and approval next year, and providing a lengthy runway of assurance for athletes to prepare ahead of the Games in 2032.

Then premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in Tokyo in 2020 after Brisbane won its bid for the 2032 Games

“We have had significant interest and conversations with a range of International Federations that want to be part of our Games in 2032 and we look forward to discussions continuing in the coming months.”

Separately, Brisbane will get to choose an additional showcase sport to be held in 2032 alongside the IOC’s core program.

Paris chose breakdancing and Los Angeles will host flag football.

The additional sport for Brisbane’s Games will be proposed to the IOC after the core sports program is finalised.

A spokeswoman for the 2032 Organising Committee said consideration of the sport program was independent of the infrastructure review.

“A key reason for the decision was to deliver the 2032 Olympic sports program and Paralympic sports program in the same year, streamlining sport engagement for the organising committee,” she said.

“Discussions on the sport program commenced last year, prior to the 100-Day Review being announced.”

The decision not to lock sports in until next year was made overnight by the IOC’s executive board ahead of the organisation’s 144th session in Greece this week, where a new president will be voted in, with the frontrunners in the seven-candidate field understood to be former champion British runner Sebastian Coe, Zimbabwean ex-swimmer Kirsty Coventry, and Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr.

The vote to decide the 10th-ever IOC president – who will serve an eight-year term – is due to begin about midnight Thursday Australian time, meaning we will wake to the news on Friday.

Originally published as Brisbane 2032 Olympics: Delays push back sport selection deadline