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TOKYO – Brisbane was chosen to host the 2032 Olympics on Wednesday, the inevitable winner of a race to a city led by the International Olympic Committee to avoid rival bids.
The Games will return to Australia 32 years after the popular Sydney Olympics in 2000. Melbourne hosted in 1956.
“We know what it takes to have a successful Games in Australia,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison told IOC members during an 11-minute live video link from his office.
When the award was later confirmed with Brisbane winning the 72-5 vote, Morrison raised both arms in the air and gave a thumbs up.
The victory sparked a fireworks display in Brisbane which was broadcast to IOC members at their five-star hotel in Tokyo.
Brisbane follows Los Angeles, host of 2028, as it prepares for 11 years to host the Games. Paris will host in 2024.
The 2032 deal appeared to be reached months before the official decision was made at the IOC meeting, which was held ahead of the Tokyo Games opening ceremony on Friday.
The IOC granted Brisbane exclusive negotiating rights in February. The move left Olympic officials from Qatar, Hungary and Germany blinded by their own bid plans stalled.
Although the outcome is expected, a high-level Australian delegation traveled to Tokyo amid the COVID-19 pandemic to present speeches, films and pledges on stage.
The City of Brisbane sent Mayor Adrian Schrinner, the State of Queensland sent Prime Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk and the Australian Federal Government sent Sports Minister Richard Colbeck to court Olympic voters.
They were joined by longtime Australian Olympic official John Coates, now IOC Vice-President who shaped the fast-track selection process two years ago that now rewards his bid for Brisbane.
The initial format was designed to reduce campaign costs, give the CIO more control to deal quietly with preferred candidates, and remove the risk of vote buying.
The project has been described by the IOC as “a passionate, athlete-centered offering from a nation that loves sport”. Events will be staged across Queensland, including the Gold Coast, which hosted the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Brisbane’s famous cricket stadium, known as Gabba, will be modernized and could host the sport at the Games. Cricket was played once at the Olympics, at the Paris Games of 1900.
The next three hosts of the Summer Games – starting with Paris in 2024 – are now secured in rich and traditional Olympic countries without any of the three facing a contested vote.
The IOC and its practical chairman, Thomas Bach, tore up the model of traditional auction campaigns and staged votes to lock down favorite cities with the minimum of risk.
Paris and LA were competing for 2024 until Bach and Coates oversaw the inclusion of 2028 rights in an unprecedented double prize four years ago.
The future hosts provide stability to the IOC, which has been stung by the two previous Summer Games contests marred by allegations of vote-buying when several cities were on the ballot.
The Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics and the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics are still under investigation by French prosecutors. They implicated officials who then lost their place in the IOC family as active or honorary members.
A low-risk future awaits the IOC after the often troubled Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 Beijing Winter Games in February, which will take a look at China’s human rights record .
Key partners have also been secured until 2032. The broadcast deal signed by the IOC with NBC and leading sponsors Coca-Cola, Visa and Omega are tied for the coming decade.
With only major cities hosting the 2008 Beijing Summer Games in Los Angeles, Brisbane has positioned itself as a new kind of project.
“We want to show the world that mid-sized cities and regions can host the Games without financial hardship or missed deadlines,” Palaszczuk told voters.
Brisbane said it already has 84% of stadiums and event venues in place to meet modern IOC demand to avoid overspending and potential white elephant projects.
A new swimming arena is planned and billions of dollars will be spent on transportation projects – not because of the Olympics but in time for them, Brisbane officials said.
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