TOKYO — The Australian city of Brisbane will host the summer Olympic Games in 2032, the International Olympic Committee decided in a vote on Wednesday.
Brisbane was the sole bid submitted by the IOC executive board to athletes, sports federations and national Olympic committees gathered in Tokyo.
It will be Australia’s third time hosting the Summer Olympics after Melbourne in 1956 and Sydney in 2000.
The selection comes just two days before the Tokyo Games begin, a year delayed. The next Summer Olympics will be in Paris in 2024, followed by Los Angeles in 2028.
“We know what it takes to deliver a successful Games in Australia,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said via video link from Canberra. Morrison promised that the federal government and Queensland would shoulder infrastructure costs, and would begin investing in the Brisbane region “immediately” after the selection.
Australian sports minister Richard Colbeck, Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Brisbane mayor Adrian Schrinner were in Tokyo for the final presentation.
Cities in Indonesia, India, Qatar, Spain and Germany had been interested in bidding for the 2032 Olympics. IOC President Thomas Bach said in June that Brisbane’s approval did not mean competing bids have been ruled out for future games.
“We have secured a pool of potential hosts for the future, who are keen to remain in continuous dialogue for Olympic Games in 2036, 2040 or later,” said Kristin Kloster Aasen, chair of the IOC’s Future Host Commission.
The commission was established in 2019 to conduct “non-committal continuous dialogues” with interested cities, essentially shepherding bids through the approval process. Brisbane is the first city to be selected under the new IOC system for selecting hosts.
Bach was asked at a Wednesday night news conference whether the vote, which was 72 in favor and 5 against, served only as a rubber stamp for the commission’s preferred city.
Competing cities had raised questions about John Coates’s dual role as vice president of the IOC and president of the Australian Olympic Committee. Coates and the IOC have maintained that he has recused himself from discussions involving Brisbane’s bid.
On Wednesday, Coates delivered the closing speech in Brisbane’s bid presentation. He and retired rower James Tomkins recused themselves from the vote.