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Brisbane would face a tough but not impossible task if it was to make a bid to host the Olympic Games, Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) vice president Peter Montgomery said today.
Montgomery said the AOC had passed a resolution two years ago that if Australia was going to bid to host a third Summer Games, Brisbane would be the most likely candidate city.
“With such prestigious large cities bidding for the Games constantly, it would be a difficult task,” Montgomery told reporters in Beijing today.
“It’s not an impossible task.”
Montgomery said AOC president John Coates, who ran Brisbane’s bid for the 1992 Olympics, had advised the city’s Lord Mayor that building venues now might not be wise because they would be out of date when the Games came around.
Lord mayor Campbell Newman supports a future Olympics bid, but says the city has a long way to go before it could be ready to host the Games.
Such a project would most likely be 10-15 years in the making, he believes.
Australian shooter Russell Mark, appearing at his fifth Olympics in Beijing, supported a Brisbane bid.
“I’d like it to be in Hoppers Crossing,” the jovial veteran who calls the outer Melbourne suburb home joked before adding that Brisbane would make a “fantastic” host.
“Anything in Australia would be tremendous. I think any athlete in Australia would be 100 per cent behind it, I couldn’t see any reason why they wouldn’t want to do it.
“Sydney did a great Games and there’s no reason why Brisbane couldn’t do just as good or even better.”
Australia has hosted the Olympics twice — in Melbourne in 1956 and Sydney in 2000.