2028 Olympics: Queensland set for IOC boost in Brisbane-led bid to host Games
Queensland’s bid to host the 2028 Summer Olympics is set to get a boost with a visit by International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach.
Mr Bach will meet with Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Sports Minister Sussan Ley in Canberra on Wednesday morning to discuss a Brisbane-centred bid to host the 2028 Games.
A study by the South East Queensland Council of Mayors, which includes 2018 Commonwealth Games host Gold Coast, has received the backing of the Australian Olympic Committee.
A formal expression of interest does not need to be lodged until January 2019 and the host of the 2028 Games will be announced at the 2021 IOC meeting.
But the AOC has asked the mayors to complete a feasibility study by the end of 2016 and have firm government and corporate support in place in 2017.
Mr Bach will also on Wednesday attend a series of functions at Sydney’s Olympic Park, where the last Olympics held in Australia were staged in 2000.
The touring party will visit a plaque from the Munich 1972 Games and the cauldron from the 2000 Games.
Mr Bach, who won gold at the Montreal 1976 Games in the fencing team event for Germany, will then meet with some young Australian fencers.