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Sports correspondent & historian with |
Two weeks ago, we arrived in Brisbane for a cruise and holiday break, expecting to see Brisbane City decked out with signs such as “Brisbane: Home of the 2032 Olympic Games.”
To my amazement, with the Olympics just six years away, there was virtually no indication of the world’s biggest sporting event about to hit Queensland.
As is usual in the run-up to an event where the whole world will turn its attention, the politicians have already broken a major early promise.
The 2032 Olympics were promoted to the taxpayers of Australia’s Sunshine State on the promise of “no new stadiums”.
Lo and behold, there has been a truckload of controversy with the recent announcement of a new colossus at Victoria Park in Barrambin.
However, while there is little advertising for the coming Olympics, there are plenty of visible infrastructure upgrades throughout the Queensland capital.
The Brisbane Olympic Games, which are as much about commercial opportunities as athlete success, are certain to override these early hurdles and Australia will receive accolades that will last forever.
When the modern Olympic Games were staged under the leadership of Frenchman Baron Pierre de Coubertin in Athens in 1896, it would have been impossible for people of the day to imagine the 21st‑century Olympic colossus.
The inaugural modern Olympics had 241 competitors from 14 nations taking part in nine sports: athletics, cycling, fencing, gymnastics, shooting, swimming, tennis, weightlifting, and Greco-Roman wrestling. The winners received silver medals and olive wreaths.
When the athletes walk into the main Olympic stadium in Brisbane, it will be just the third time the Olympic Games have been held on the island continent.
Melbourne in 1956 and the Sydney Olympics in 2000 set Brisbane the challenge of producing an Olympic Games with a legacy that will last long into the future.
Brisbane’s Olympic numbers are staggering: 28 core sports, with additional disciplines to be finalised by 2026, will be hosted across Brisbane and the Gold and Sunshine Coasts, plus some events outside South east Queensland.
More than 10,000 competitors and an operating budget north of AU$5 billion ($6b) are staggering figures - and they’re rising.
New Zealand is well placed to take advantage of another big haul of Olympic medals, with the Games right on our doorstep.
In 2026, it is all about talent identification and preparation for the biggest sporting circus in the world.
The climate and location of the Western Bay of Plenty are likely to attract teams and individuals to our region over the next six years, as they prepare for the world’s largest sporting stage.
Blake Park at Mount Maunganui is one example of where our champions hone their skills before international success.
The All Black Men’s and Women’s Sevens sides have blended into the local community from their base camp in Mount Maunganui before embarking on victory around the globe.
As the clock ticks down to Brisbane in 2032, it will become the norm for a number of Olympic hopefuls to become familiar faces on the streets of Tauranga and Mount Maunganui, as they prepare for the ultimate sporting challenge to bring glory to our country.