The Olympics will return to Australia for a third time after Brisbane was formally awarded hosting rights for the 2032 Games following a vote of International Olympic Committee member nations in Tokyo.
With the Australian city the only bid city still in the running and firmly endorsed by the IOC’s Future Host Commission, Wednesday’s decision was a foregone conclusion.
Still, the bid team, led by Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, federal sports minister Richard Colbeck and Brisbane lord mayor Adrian Schrinner, travelled from Australia to make their case in person.
Palaszczuk told the session Queensland will offer the Olympic movement “a safe pair of hands”. “We pledge to create a successful model under your new host city strategy by showcasing a cost-neutral, climate positive, safe … and enthralling experience for the whole world,” she said.
Earlier on Wednesday, IOC communications director Mark Adams had tried to play down the certainty surrounding the bid. “This is not a done deal because it’s still up to the session to decide,” he said. “They can decide to put the issue back in the pot – there are still a number of interested cities.”
But with celebratory fireworks scheduled in Brisbane, late drama was not expected and the members ratified the decision during the IOC session in a plush hotel in central Tokyo.
The 2032 Olympics, the third to be hosted in Australia after Melbourne in 1956 and Sydney in 2000, is estimated to cost $5bn. The majority of this is expected to be recouped through ticket revenue, domestic sponsorship and broadcast rights.
The bid has predicted the Games will bring $17bn in economic benefit, although the Olympic movement is famous for high expectations unmatched by economic reality.
“My government is proud to be supporting this opportunity for Brisbane and southeast Queensland,” prime minister Scott Morrison said while making his case via video link from Australia. “The Australian and Queensland governments are fully funding the infrastructure projects to be delivered in preparation for the Games, ensuring that they deliver for Brisbane 2032, but also leave a lasting legacy.”
Brisbane will also host the Paralympics, the second time Australia has done so – the first Paralympic Games were held in Rome in 1960.
“Our vision and plans are ambitious, as they should be,” Paralympics Australia president Jock O’Callaghan said in a statement. “We will be guided by a relentless focus on inclusion, diversity and accessibility and we’ll be driven by the Paralympic ideals of determination, equality, inspiration and courage.”
Brisbane’s successful bid comes amid a period of turmoil for the IOC. The Swiss-based international sporting body has attracted sustained criticism for its approach to the Tokyo 2020 Games, which began on Wednesday with softball fixtures and officially commences at Friday’s opening ceremony.
The IOC has pushed on with its plans for this month’s Games, more than a year after it was postponed as a result of Covid-19, in the face of widespread domestic opposition. Polls suggest about 80% of the Japanese population want the Olympics cancelled.