Despite the complete lack of suspense and competition, Thomas Bach followed the protocol.
The IOC president pulled a white card out of the envelope marked with the words Brisbane 2032. He then announced: “The International Olympic Committee has the honor to announce that the Games of the 35th Olympiad are awarded to Brisbane, Australia.”
Thomas Bach is pleased, even though he will have to hand over the keys to his presidential office in 2025.
The IOC session went all out. The capital of Queensland received 72 votes out of 80 possible. Only five members present expressed their objection to the choice made on their behalf, several months earlier, by the executive board. Three others abstained.
With this decision, the IOC secures more than a decade of presumed safety, with Paris 2024, Los Angeles 2028, and Brisbane 2032. Australia, on its part, hosts the Olympic event for the third time in its history, after Melbourne in 1956 and Sydney in 2000.
In detail, the proposed project offers no revolution. But it adheres strictly to the new IOC guidelines: existing venues, a tight budget ($4.5 billion), and political consensus across all levels of the hierarchy (city, state, and federal government).
The Queensland bid planned a setup organized around three major hubs: the city of Brisbane, the Gold Coast 65 km to the southeast, and the Sunshine Coast 85 km to the north. The funding for the Games will be private. Most of the facilities will be inherited from the 2018 Commonwealth Games held on the Gold Coast.
The Brisbane Games will open on July 23, 2032, during the winter in the southern hemisphere. But winter in Queensland often features a climate and temperatures very similar to summer in much of the world.
