Brisbane will host the 2032 Olympic Games after winning formal approval by the International Olympic Committee on Wednesday.
The Brisbane bid was ratified by a vote of 87 IOC members at a meeting in Tokyo before the opening of the Games on Friday, with IOC president Thomas Bach declaring the Queensland capital as host of both the Olympics and Paralympics in 11 years time.
“The International Olympic Committee has the honour to announce that the Games of the 35th Olympiad are awarded to Brisbane, Australia,” Bach said.
Brisbane has won the hosting rights for the 2023 Olympics.
Needing to secure half the votes of its members, Brisbane was preferred ahead of Budapest, Korea, Doha and Germany’s Ruhr Valley, who had all expressed an interest in hosting the Games.
The Brisbane 2032 delegation, including AOC President John Coates and Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, made a formal final presentation to the IOC meeting.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison addressed the meeting via a live link from Parliament House and spoke of the Australian government’s financial commitment to the Games.
“We know what it takes to deliver a successful Games in Australia,” Morrison said.
“We can draw confidence from Australia’s track record as delivering major sporting and global events that the Brisbane games will be safe and secure.”
He also described Australia’s multicultural population, with 300 ethnicities, as a “giant Olympic village”.
New Zealand swimmer Eve Thomas is following in her mother’s footsteps by competing at the Tokyo Olympics.
Coates, who is also an IOC vice-president, dubbed Brisbane “the together games” mixing modernity and the Olympics’ 136-year-old ideals.
New Zealand Olympic Committee CEO Kereyn Smith said Brisbanes win was also a win for New Zealand.
We warmly congratulate our Australian friends and colleagues on their successful bid to host the 2032 Olympic Games, Smith said.
A Southern Hemisphere Olympic Games is fantastic for New Zealand athletes and sport providing an at home experience for the New Zealand team with better travel, time-zones, training opportunities. Additional Oceania quota spots will open up providing more openings for elite New Zealand athletes.
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Brisbane will be the third Australian city to host the Olympics following Melbourne in 1956 and Sydney in 2000.
The Brisbane Games will also provide opportunities for New Zealanders working in events and sport management as well as volunteers keen to experience the excitement of an Olympic Games first-hand.
Not all the opportunities will be in Australia as New Zealand looks to host pre-Olympic Games training camps in the build up to 2032. Tourism will also get a significant boost with international travellers adding New Zealand to their Olympic itineraries.
While fireworks erupted in Brisbane, the reaction was more muted with the city confirmed back in February as the preferred host city and awarded exclusive negotiation rights ahead of its bidding rivals.
The IOC overhauled its bidding rules in 2019 to reduce costs and avoid pitting candidates against each other.
The city’s bid had earlier earned praise from the IOC for its high percentage of existing venues encompassing south-east Queensland, support from all levels of government and the private sector, experience in organising major events and its favourable weather.
Australia will become only the second country after the United States to host the Summer Olympics in three different cities.
Melbourne held the Games in 1956 and then Sydney in 2000.
Paris will stage the 2024 Games while Los Angeles has been awarded the 2028 edition.
