Townsville Bulletin

Brisbane blindsided as China signals late bid for Olympic Games

- JULIAN LINDEN

CHINA is preparing an audacious last-minute bid to steal the 2032 Olympics and Paralympic­s right from under Australia’s noses while Brisbane’s bid is momentaril­y on hold because of the global pandemic.

Australia’s sporting leaders have always feared that China would retaliate over Mack Horton’s role in the worldwide protests against China’s banned favourite swimmer

Sun Yang but the brazen attempt to pinch the Olympic hosting rights has caught everyone by surprise.

Olympic insiders are stunned that China would suddenly throw its hat in the ring to host the 2032 Olympics, knowing full well that Queensland is the clear frontrunne­r and has only paused in its planning out of respect to officials dealing with the global health crisis.

While a formal decision on the host is not expected until at least 2022, it’s no secret the Internatio­nal

Olympic Committee been working closely bane’s team.

Designed to end the ugly and expensive bidding wars of the past, the IOC has implemente­d a more transparen­t system whereby it enters into continuous dialogue with candidate cities.

It’s well understood those talks have only stalled to allow the IOC to deal with the more pressing issue of rescheduli­ng Tokyo in 2021 and aren’t in any way a suggestion Bris(IOC) with has Brisbane’s bid is not proceeding. That’s why China’s late bid comes as such a major surprise.

According to a report in the China Daily, the Sichuan province capital Chengdu and the nearby megacity of Chongqing are teaming up to launch a joint bid for 2032.

The Chinese Olympic Committee has not yet confirmed whether the bid will go ahead though it is well known that China is aggressive­ly chasing major internatio­nal sports events.

 ??  ?? John Coates (AOC), Thomas Bach (IOC).
John Coates (AOC), Thomas Bach (IOC).

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