Australia is hosting the 2032 Summer Olympics in Brisbane, and the major aquatics organizations in Australia are getting together to use this as an opportunity to create an aquatic center that will help catapult Australian Aquatics in the state. While the stadium would be used for the Olympics, they are asking for it to be built far enough in advance to help athletes prepare appropriately for the Games.
The heads of Swimming Australia, Diving Australia, Water Polo Australia, and Artistic Swimming Australia, recently submitted a proposal to the Games Independent Infrastructure and Coordination Authority. The proposal includes upgrading the existing Centenary Pool and complementing it by a new stadium “featuring two large indoor pools that would act as a national base to host the four peak aquatic sports.” The submission is also backed by The Australian Olympic Committee, Paralympics Australia, and World Aquatics.
This facility would act as a National Aquatics Centre, and would be available to the public year-round, and would be available to host events from learn-to-swim classes to World Championships.
Rob Woodhouse, the CEO of swimming Australia said “we have needed an upgraded aquatic sport venue, not just for elite sport and competition but to service our diverse community in what is uniquely built into the Australian fabric – a love of water”. Woodhouse went on to discuss the fact that the Centre would provide a “generational opportunity” to bring the world’s best to Queensland, inspiring people for decades to come.
Diving Australia CEO, Alex Newton described the lack of diving facilities in Australia. He highlighted how the creation of this facility can help prepare Australian divers to have a successful Olympics in 2032, and how “Even without the Olympics there are not enough diving facilities in Australia to support the ever-growing community of divers.”
Tim Welsford, the CEO of Water Polo Australia, emphasized the importance of a facility that The Aussie Sharks and Aussie Stingers can call come, and a place for pathway and educational programs for Water Polo. He also discussed the impact of a facility on people who are not elite athletes and how a facility can “support a healthier Australia…The 2032 Olympics in Australia will inspire a nation to get active and healthy, and we want to have a showpiece venue that can further support that.
Finally, Artistic Swimming Australia Chair Mark Sinderberry’s statement focused on the legacy the Centre would have saying “The NAC is a venue that will leave a true legacy not just in bricks and mortar but in the hearts and minds of the community– and all aquatic athletes.”
They included a “snapshot” of the proposal explaining specific aspects of the facility
- The NAC would have a permanent seating capacity of 8800 and would seat up to 25,800 in 2032.
- The main competition pool would seat more than 19.000, greater than the capacity of the La Defense Arena at the Paris Games
- While the facility can host aquatic sports for the Olympics, it is needed regardless to meet community need and support the growth of Australian Aquatics
- The National Aquatic Industry contributes more than $9 billion annually in economic, health, and social benefits, and the creation of such a facility would only help increase those benefits.
You can read the full release on the Swimming Australia website.
There is already an ongoing battle about the creation of a ‘main stadium” for the games and the location for it. Former Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk spoke on a news program on Thursday criticizing the idea of building a new stadium.
She says there have been three proposals, one was to renovate the Brisbane Cricket Ground, one to build an entirely new facility at Victoria Park, and the third to renovate existing Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre and Suncorp Stadiums.
Palaszczuk stated she was so “pleased with it when we secured it for Brisbane and Queensland and Australia, an inclusive Games, and now the athletes are being forgotten and it’s become this huge fight over stadiums, for goodness sake.”
Australia is also already over budget for their Olympic Games. The athlete villages are estimated to cost $3.5 billion, and according a statement issues by the LNP government, Labor has only saved $155 million, a $3.4 billion miscalculation.
The reason for this miscalculation reportedly comes from the fact that they did not account for the actual building athletes would stay in, and rather only saved for suburban streets and paths for the village.
swimming australia needs to do a better job of retaining coaches. ofc some of these were telegraphed ahead of time but its actually shocking that just in a matter of months theyve lost so many olympic level coaches — higson, bohl, palfrey, bishop, raleigh…
dean boxall is a miracle worker but its not a good idea for a single coach to be handling what seems like over half of their national team
it kinda reminds me (to a lesser degree) of how the us lost a cluster of high profile coaches after 2020 w gregg, bauerle, mckeever — and we all witnessed the state of usa swimming these past 2 years…
Speaking of Aus, anyone got any idea what Marchard, Razetti, Ceccon and Louise Hansson are doing in Aus atm? Are some looking for new training bases for the next quad ?
Training I should think. But seriously I do remember someone saying Marchand wanted a change of scene and a post Olympic year seemed like a good time while Bob was concentrating on NCAAs for a few months. Pretty sure I saw Marchand in the crowd at the Australian Open men’s final about one hour ago.
I think this is a great idea. There’s so many being thrown around, but having a permanent top tier facility that’s easily accessible in a major city for multiple sports seems like a great investment moving forward, not just for the Games.
Agree. Really hope it goes ahead but am afraid it won’t.
Mandatory upvote from me for being the first commenter to post on-topic.
In relation to that topic, it’s about time Australia had a world-class swimming facility, and there is no better place to build it than Brisbane.