Brisbane, Australia To Host Summer Olympics in 2032

Brisbane, Australia was officially granted the hosting of the Olympics for 2032, according to an announcement from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Tokyo on Wednesday.

The Australian city and the surrounding Southeast Queensland region were approved during a meeting of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) session in Tokyo on Wednesday.

IOC President Thomas Bach said in a statement “Brisbane 2032 is the first future host to have been elected under, and to have fully benefited from, the new flexible approach to electing Olympic hosts.”

This new way of hosting the gargantuan Summer Games encourages Olympic bids which make use of already-existing and temporary venues, he added.

The Tokyo Olympics will run from July 23 — August 8, with the Paralympics taking place from August 24 — September 5, across a total of 37 venues in the Japanese capital.

Brisbane and the state of Queensland as a whole will host or co-host a number of sports events in the coming years, serving as a run-up to the Games and offering a view of how they might proceed in the different venues.

The 2022 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup, the 2022 UCI Road World Championships in cycling, and the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in soccer are Mong these world-class events.

Brisbane and its Gold Coast to host 2032 Olympics

In the past, the Brisbane region also acted as host of the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the “Gold Coast,” which has been pegged to host some of the Olympic events in 2032.

The Brisbane Games will mark the first time the Olympics have returned to Oceania for 32 years, since the resounding success of the Sydney Games in 2000.

Bach stated “The Brisbane 2032 vision and Games plan fit into long-term regional and national strategies for social and economic development in Queensland and Australia.”

The coronavirus pandemic is still overshadowing the Tokyo Games, with a number of athletes being forced to drop out of their events following testing positive for the virus. As of Wednesday, scores of athletes have now tested positive, with two American gymnasts who are alternates on the team the most prominent athletes to test positive on Tuesday.

Brisbane uncontested for Olympic bid

Melbourne, Australia hosted the Games in 1956, with Sydney putting on the much-larger Games in 2000. There was no other city in the world other than Brisbane vying to host the 2032 Games.

This posed a very unusual, and most likely, unprecedented, situation for the IOC as they normally have to make the difficult choice of awarding the Games between competing cities around the globe.

And this doesn’t seem to be wholly dependent on the coronavirus and its ramifications on the Games — many citizens around the globe are growing increasingly worried about the financial hit that host nations often take in hosting the Games, with public debt in host cities soaring after many recent Olympics.

Athens put forth as permanent Olympics host city

Some note the sad sight of white elephant venues in host cities around the world, including the rusting stadia in Athens after the Greek capital hosted the 2004 Games. That iteration of the Olympics cost the Greek state a whopping $11 billion and the waste it incurred became an albatross around its neck in the dark years of the country’s debt crisis that ensued thereafter.

In response to this ongoing thorn in the side of the Greek state, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Tuesday announced a 54 million euro ($63.6 million) project to redevelop the Olympic Athletic Center of Athens (OAKA), the centerpiece of the 2004 Olympics.

The venue, which was restored for the 2004 Games, has not been making a profit.

According to a government press release it cost the Greek state 200 million euros ($235.5 million) since 2005. The Greek government hopes to reopen the site at some point in 2023, and in the process create 1,400 permanent jobs.

A movement in Greece is also aiming to have the Summer Olympics permanently in Greece — a decision that would be expensive in the short run but offer a great deal of stability in the long haul, as the IOC now deals with much fewer cities that are wiling to take on the enormous financial burden of hosting.