Brisbane is all but confirmed to be hosting the 2032 Olympics after the IOC announced a huge decision on Thursday that leaves the city in a virtually unbeatable position.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) made the announcement on Thursday morning, confirming that Brisbane is the preferred city to host the game.
This doesn’t mean you should be booking your flights to Brisbane *just* yet, but it does mean that Brisbane will now have the chance to negotiate the terms with the committee.
Basically, the city has a year to come up with a solid plan regarding stadiums, accommodation and all of the other stuff that goes into hosting an Olympics and, provided the IOC is happy with it, the games will be ours.
The IOC President Thomas Bach stressed that the decision is not final, but confirmed that the board is now in exclusive talks with the city.
“This decision is not a decision against anybody,” Bach said. “This is just a decision in favour of one interested party at this moment in time.”
The Australian Olympic Committee was stoked with the announcement, which could bring the games back down under just 32 years after the iconic Sydney Olympics that lives rent-free in my brain to this day.
“The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) has welcomed this morning’s announcement that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will enter into ‘Targeted Dialogue’ with the Brisbane, Queensland candidature to host the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games,” the AOC said in a statement.
“The decision, which was taken at this morning’s IOC Executive Board Meeting, confers ‘preferred host’ status to the Brisbane candidature which has the support of the Federal Government, Queensland Government, the Council of Mayors, South East Queensland, Australian Olympic Committee and Paralympics Australia.
“Previously, the IOC’s Future Host Committee (FHC) has been in ‘Continuous Dialogue’ with the Brisbane candidature which examined Queensland’s capacity to host an Olympic Games.”
Brisbane was named the preferred host city over rival bidders including Doha (Qatar), Budapest (Hungary) and even a possible North *AND* South Korea.
