BERLIN/MELBOURNE (AUSTRALIA) – The International Olympic Committee said on Wednesday that the Australian city of Brisbane had been selected as the preferred partner to start discussions for the Games. This is seen as a major step for the city to being named 2032 Olympic host.
According to IOC President Thomas Bach, the organisation had approved a recommendation of the commission entrusted with future hosts.
“This commission recommended to the IOC executive board to enter into a targeted dialogue with Brisbane 2032. The Executive Board has unanimously approved this recommendation,” Bach said.
A host of cities and countries have expressed interest in the 2032 Games and they include Brisbane, Indonesia, Budapest, China, Doha and Germany’s Ruhr valley.
Australian Olympic Committee boss John Coates, who is a vice president of the IOC, said the other candidate cities had been “parked for a future Games”.
“It was a very mature decision by the IOC,” Coates said on Thursday.
“To take a decision when you’ve still got a few other cities there and say we’re going into targeted dialogue with one preferred city was a big call by them and that’s where they ended up.
“It’s a significant recognition of the way we’ve worked together, the three levels of government, the Paralympic Committee and the Australian Olympic Committee in presenting this bid together.”
Brisbane earned brownie points because of its higher number of existing venues, an excellent masterplan, experience in hosting major events and a favourable weather among other things.
