The 2032 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXXV Olympiad and also known as Brisbane 2032 is an upcoming international
multi-sport event scheduled to take place between 23 July to 8 August 2032, in
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.[1]
Following changes in the bidding rules, the
International Olympic Committee selected and announced Brisbane as the winning bid on 21 July 2021, two days before the start of the
2020 Summer Olympics.[2] Brisbane was first announced as the preferred bid on 24 February 2021, gaining the formal approval of the IOC Executive Board on 10 June 2021.[3][4][5] Brisbane became the first host city to be selected to host the
Olympics through the new bid process.[1]
The new IOC bidding process was approved at the
134th IOC Session on 24 June 2019 in
Lausanne, Switzerland.[7] The key proposals, driven by the relevant recommendations from Olympic Agenda 2020, are:
Establish a permanent, ongoing dialogue to explore and create interest among cities/regions/countries and National Olympic Committees for any Olympic event
Create two Future Host Commissions (Summer and Winter Games) to oversee interest in future Olympic events and report to the IOC executive board
Give the IOC Session more influence by having non-executive board members form part of the Future Host Commissions.[8][7]
The IOC also modified the
Olympic Charter to increase its flexibility by removing the date of election from 7 years before the games and changing the host from a single city/region/country to multiple cities, regions, or countries.
The change in the bidding process was criticised by members of the German bid as "incomprehensible" and hard to surpass "in terms of non-transparency".[9]
Future Host Summer Commissions
The full composition of the Summer Commissions, oversee interested hosts, or with potential hosts where the IOC may want to create interest, is as follows:[10]
Future Host Summer Commissions for 2032 Summer Olympics
According to Future Host Commission terms of reference with rules of conduct, the new IOC bidding system is divided into two dialogue stages:[11]
Continuous Dialogue: Non-committal discussions between the IOC and Interested Parties (City/Region/Country/NOC interested in hosting) concerning hosting future Olympic events.
Targeted Dialogue: Targeted discussions with one or more Interested Parties (called Preferred Host(s)), as instructed by the IOC Executive Board. This follows a recommendation by the Future Host Commission as a result of Continuous Dialogue.
Host selection
Brisbane was confirmed as host of the 2032 Summer Olympics at the 138th
IOC Session on 21 July 2021 in
Tokyo, Japan.[12] As per the new format of choosing future Olympic Games host cities from the IOC's Agenda 2020, the vote was in a form of a
referendum to the 80 IOC delegates. According to the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 72 of the delegates voted "Yes", 5 voted "No" and 3 other voters abstained.[13]
From the 2021 selection of the city as the host for the 2032 Summer Olympics, Brisbane has 11 years to prepare for the games. The Brisbane bid relied on the premise that over 80 percent of the venues needed to host the games were already existing infrastructure. A 2019 feasibility study suggested that over A$900 million would be needed from both state and federal funding to host the games. The bid received federal government support in 2019.[citation needed]
Venue construction and renovations
The majority of venues for the Games are existing or undergoing renovations and upgrades. Most of the new venues would be situated in the Brisbane Zone, such as the planned
Brisbane Live precinct, located at
Roma Street. The Brisbane Live precinct will house a 17–18,000 person arena as its centrepiece and will be used for events such as aquatics. The precinct will also include a new railway station under Roma Street. The precinct construction cost is around
AUD$2 billion, with an estimated completion date of 2024.[15]
In April 2021, Premier of Queensland
Annastacia Palaszczuk stated that
Brisbane Cricket Ground (colloquially known as "the Gabba") would undergo an approximately $1 billion redevelopment to serve as the
main stadium if Brisbane were awarded the Games, under which the stadium will be "entirely demolished" and rebuilt to a capacity of 50,000. A new pedestrian plaza would also be constructed, which has been proposed as a site for public festivities during the Games.[16] In September 2021,
Ted O'Brien—
LNP of Queensland MP and newly-appointed special envoy for Brisbane 2032—argued that the redevelopment was announced without consultation, explaining that "the problem was we were selling a proposition to the International Olympic Committee about the 'new norms'; no big, new, flashy, glossy investments", and that "we had a lot of work to claw back with the IOC to make sure they didn't think we were telling them one thing and planning to do something else."[17][18]
In February 2023, the state and federal government reached an agreement on $7 billion worth of redevelopment in Brisbane for the Games, led by the aforementioned Gabba redevelopment (whose cost was increased to $2.7 billion, paid entirely by the state) and Brisbane Live. The historic
East Brisbane State School would be demolished and relocated due to the Gabba project.[19] In August 2023, the project began to face questions about its cost, especially after the state of
Victoria withdrew its hosting of the
2026 Commonwealth Games due to cost concerns;
Matt Carroll of the Australian Olympic Committee told a senate committee that the IOC recommends against building infrastructure solely for the Olympics, and that the Gabba's existing tenants (including
Cricket Australia and the
Brisbane Lions of the
AFL) would remain the stadium's "primary use" after its completion.[20]
In December 2023, Lord Mayor
Adrian Schrinner withdrew his support for the Gabba project, stating that Brisbane 2032 had "become more about overpriced stadiums rather than the promise of vital transport solutions."[21][22] Queensland had announced plans for a 20,000-seat stadium at the
Brisbane Showgrounds at a cost of $137 million, with the intent to use it as a temporary venue for the Gabba's tenants while it is being reconstructed.[22] Schrinner, who was not given advance notice of the Showgrounds project, stated that "the state government's ham-fisted and foolish attempt to extort Brisbane ratepayers for tens of millions of dollars for a new
RNA stadium was the final straw."[22]
The new Premier of Queensland
Steven Miles (who took office unopposed after Palaszczuk retired from politics)[23] announced that he would instate an infrastructure authority to oversee the development of Brisbane 2032's venues, and that an independent review of its plans would be led by former Lord Mayor
Graham Quirk and completed within the next 60 days.[24][25] In January 2024, Miles stated that despite his previous support of the stadium plans as an assistant minister, he was concerned over the $2.7 billion cost of the stadium project, and that "I repeatedly asked if there were any other options, and all the options that were brought back cost similar amounts for a worse outcome."[26][27]
On 18 March 2024, as a result of the independent review, Miles announced that the Gabba project had been cancelled. It will still undergo a refurbishment ahead of the Games, but will no longer serve as the ceremonies and athletics venue.[28] The review recommended the construction of a new 55,000-seat stadium in
Victoria Park as a legacy project, but Miles stated that this proposal has been rejected due to its projected $3.4 billion cost. Instead, Miles announced that
Lang Park (which is already scheduled to host rugby sevens and football) would serve as the ceremonies' venue instead, and
Queensland Sports and Athletics Centre would host athletics. Both venues will undergo upgrades ahead of the Games. The
Brisbane Live arena would also be relocated to the
Roma Street Parkland, rather than above the
Roma Street railway station, while the Breakfast Creek Indoor Sports Precinct and Toowoomba Sports Ground projects were also scrapped.[28] Miles stated that he wanted Brisbane 2032 to be a "low-cost Games", and that "when Queenslanders are struggling with housing and other costs, I cannot justify to them spending $3.4 billion on a new stadium."[28]
Infrastructure
As of 2021, Brisbane has many infrastructure projects under construction or planning on top of the games. The
Cross River Rail, scheduled to be completed in 2024, is an underground railway project through central Brisbane, which is under construction. Cross River Rail will see the development of a new rail line underneath Brisbane River, and the redevelopment of several stations in the Brisbane central business district with a cost of over A$6 billion.[29] Other transport infrastructure projects include the
Brisbane Metrobus rapid transit project that comprises two routes with a headway of up to five minutes during peak times.[30] The project is scheduled to be completed in late 2024.[31]
Brisbane Lord Mayor
Adrian Schrinner proposed that a 7-hectare (17-acre) glass factory at 137 Montague Rd, South Brisbane, be redeveloped into a 57,000 m2 (613,500 sq ft) International Broadcasting Centre along the banks of the
Brisbane River.[32][33]
The main Athletes' Village will be constructed at
Hamilton.[34]
Venues will be located in three zones in
South East Queensland: Brisbane as the main host city, and neighbouring areas
Gold Coast and
Sunshine Coast. Another five cities will host football preliminaries:
Cairns,
Toowoomba and
Townsville in the state of Queensland.
Melbourne and
Sydney — Australia's two previous host cities in
1956 and
2000, respectively—will also host football preliminaries.
The program of the Summer Olympics consists of mandatory "core" sports that persist between Games and up to six optional sports: optional sports are proposed by the organizing committee in order to improve local interest,[35][36] provided that the total number of participants does not exceed 10,500 athletes.
Various sanctioning bodies have announced plans to pursue bids for sports to be added to the 2032 Summer Olympics:
In February 2021,
Softball Australia,
Baseball Australia and the
World Baseball Softball Confederation backed baseball/softball to be part of the 2028 and 2032 programs.[37] CEO of Baseball Australia
Glenn Williams noted record broadcasting audiences for baseball and softball at the
2020 Summer Olympics, with Softball Australia chair Richard Lindell also supporting the sports' reinstatement into the core Olympic program.[38] Both disciplines have medalled for Australia at the Olympics and a baseball-specific site at the proposed Breakfast Creek Sports Precinct in
Albion would bolster their bid.[39] Baseball/softball was selected by the Los Angeles 2028 organising committee for inclusion in its program.
In August 2021,
World Netball announced that it would pursue the inclusion of
netball, with backing from
Netball Australia. The country has won the
Netball World Cup eleven times since its inception. The bid faces a potential obstacle from the IOC's current policy of gender parity:
men's netball does not receive the same level of public attention as the women's game.[46][47]
In April 2024, the Trail Running Association of Queensland (TRAQ) initiated its ten-year plan to promote
trail running to become an Olympic sport. Around the same time, a campaign by
Merrell was launched with a 455km relay from
2012 host,
London, to
2024 host,
Paris. [49]
Domestically, the Games will be
televised by the
Nine Network, which acquired the rights to the Olympics from 2024 through 2032 in a deal announced 8 February 2023.[51][52] These Games mark the final year of nearly all of the IOC's current long-term broadcasting contracts.