Australia’s Brisbane to host 2032 Olympic Games

The Australian city of Brisbane will host the 2032 Summer Olympics after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved the recommendation of its executive board.

“The International Olympic Committee has the honour to announce that the Games of the 35th Olympiad are awarded to Brisbane, Australia,” IOC President Thomas Bach said on Wednesday after a vote in Japan’s capital, Tokyo, which is due to host the delayed 2020 Olympics.

“And I make this commitment to the athletes of the world – we will provide you with an unforgettable experience,” he added.

The announcement was greeted by cheers from the Brisbane delegates at the IOC session and fireworks were set off in the capital of Australia’s Queensland state, where people had gathered to await the vote.

Brisbane’s victory looked a certainty after it was unanimously proposed as the single candidate for 2032 by the IOC’s 15-strong executive board in June.

Its selection means that Brisbane will become the third Australian city to get the games, after Melbourne in 1956 and Sydney in 2000, with Australia only the second country in the world, after the United States, to stage summer Olympic Games in three different cities.

“It’s a historic day not just for Brisbane and Queensland, but for the entire country,” Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.

“Only global cities can secure the Olympic Games – so this is fitting recognition for Brisbane’s standing across our region and the world,” he added.

“It also marks an important leap forward for Australia as we look toward major events that lock in economic growth and social benefits that will echo for years to come.

The decision means the IOC has now secured hosts for the next three Summer Olympics, with Paris holding the event in 2024 and Los Angeles holding the 2028 Games.

Brisbane’s bid involved 32 venues and most have already been built.

It had earned repeated praise from the IOC 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 further boosted its chances.

The state of Queensland hosted the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

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.