The IOC chose Brisbane, Australia, as the city location to host the 2032 Olympics. Brisbane was seen as the inevitable winner of a one-city race steered by the IOC to avoid rival bids.
Brisbane will mark the first return of the Olympic Games to Australia in over 32 years since the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Melbourne hosted the first Olympics Games in Australia back in 1956.
“We know what it takes to deliver a successful Games in Australia,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison told International Olympic Committee members in an 11-minute live video link from his office.
Brisbane won the vote 72-5, and then Morrison raised both arms in the air and gave two thumbs up. A fireworks show was displayed in Brisbane and was broadcasted to IOC members in their five-star hotel in Tokyo.
The 2032 deal looked done months before the formal decision at the IOC meeting, which was held ahead of Friday’s opening ceremony of the Tokyo Games. In February, the IOC gave Brisbane exclusive negotiation rights. However, that decision left Olympic officials in Qatar, Hungary and Germany blindsided with their own stalled bidding plans. Though the result was expected, a high-level Australian delegation went to Tokyo amid the COVID-19 pandemic to present speeches, films and promises on stage.
Brisbane will now have 11 years to prepare for hosting the Olympics. The city already has 84 percent of stadiums and event venues in place to fit the IOC’s modern demand of avoiding excessive spending and potential white-elephant projects.
A new swimming arena is planned and billions of dollars will be spent on transport projects. The projects are not because of the Olympics, but in time for them, Brisbane officials said.
