2032 Olympics awarded to Brisbane, 3rd Australian city to host Games after Melbourne and Sydney
The IOC announced the awarding of the 2032 Olympics to Brisbane, making it the third Australian city to host the Games.
In Short
- Australia is the second country after US to host the Games in three different cities
- Brisbane had been chosen as the "preferred host" in February
- The IOC had repeatedly praised the city's bid for a number of reasons
Brisbane was announced as the host of the 2032 Olympics on Wednesday, thus becoming the third Australian city to host the Games. A crowd had gathered in the city to watch the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) announcement on big screens as Australia became only the second country in the world, after the United States, to host the Olympics in three different cities.
Queensland's state capital had been the preferred host, chosen in February, and had earned the nod of the executive board last month.
Several cities and countries had publicly expressed an interest in staging the 2032 Games including Indonesia, Hungary's capital Budapest, China, Qatar's Doha and Germany’s Ruhr valley region.
BRISBANE 2032 ELECTED AS HOST OF THE GAMES OF THE XXXV OLYMPIAD!
CONGRATULATIONS! pic.twitter.com/h66C9pHxcG — IOC MEDIA (@iocmedia) July 21, 2021
Brisbane had already moved ahead of any rival in February, being selected as a "preferred host" as part of a new process adopted by the IOC that does not openly pit cities against each other.
The IOC had repeatedly praised the city's bid for its high percentage of existing venues, support from all levels of government and the private sector, experience in organising major events and its favourable weather, among other things.
A commitment in April from the Australian government to split the infrastructure costs 50-50 with local government allowed Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to forward the necessary financial guarantees to the IOC.
Queensland had earlier hosted the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Awarding the Games to Australia was also a nod to senior IOC member John Coates, a current IOC vice president, and one of the closest allies to IOC president Thomas Bach.
Coates, who reaches an IOC age limit of 74 in 2024 and will be forced to leave the organisation, had unsuccessfully attempted to land the 1992 Games for Brisbane that eventually were awarded to Barcelona.
The IOC overhauled its bidding rules in 2019 to reduce costs and make the process easier for cities. There are no official candidate cities campaigning ahead of the vote as has been the case in the past.
Instead, the IOC picks a preferred host after talks with all interested cities and then puts that city to a vote at its session.
Tokyo is hosting the postponed 2020 Olympics this week and Paris will stage the 2024 Games. Los Angeles has been awarded the 2028 summer Olympics.