Games to bring city spotlight
Report on Olympic opportunities released
THE long-awaited report into Toowoomba’s Olympic opportunities has been released, with the games anticipated to “bring an international spotlight to the region”.
The report outlines a number of opportunities the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games could provide to the region from both a sporting and nonsporting standpoint.
THE long-awaited report into Toowoomba’s Olympic opportunities has been released, with the games anticipated to “bring an international spotlight to the region”.
This is despite the region being only in line to host preliminary stages of one event at this point.
The report, prepared by Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise and released by Toowoomba Regional Council yesterday, outlines a number of opportunities the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games could provide to the region from both a sporting and non-sporting standpoint.
A spokesperson from the Premier’s office has confirmed Toowoomba has been granted provisional rights to host football preliminaries at the Toowoomba Sports Ground, involving an upgrade to 15,000 seats with 10,000 in a temporary capacity.
However the report found that while retaining the football matches should be the main focus, other sports could be hosted in the Garden City.
“Toowoomba could potentially host Olympic equestrian, shooting or archery events but only if the current facilities are upgraded to an international standard, Toowoomba hosts successful and regular national and international sporting events leading up to the Games and gains the final approval of the IOC,” the report stated.
“Toowoomba also has the opportunity to host lead-up training for the Games in sports such as hockey, BMX, mountain biking, road racing and boxing which would provide ongoing economic benefits over a longer time frame.”
TSBE CEO Ali Davenport said the 2032 Brisbane Olympics posed a great opportunity for south east Queensland.
“What we need to do is make sure we can maximise those opportunities,” she said.
“Realistically the regions that are going to benefit most from the sporting events are Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast because they’ve already got the infrastructure in place but there’s opportunities around that we can deliver on and maximise the benefit to us. There’s opportunities around training and the lead-up to the Games as well as food, clean energy.”
TRC Mayor Paul Antonio said the Games were an opportunity to provide major infrastructure.
“An event of this scale allows us to dream and to explore the possibility of what we can secure for our region,” he said.
“This isn’t just about the Olympics – it’s about ensuring we give our region the best possible chance to capitalise on all of the opportunities which lie ahead over the next 10-20 years.”