Ladbrokes is not a sponsor of the Olympic Games, any Olympic Committees or teams.
IN betting terms, Brisbane is the $1.01, early payout, unbackable odds favorite to become the host city of the 2032 Olympic games.
The IOC will make the announcement as to if/when Bris-Vegas will host the 2032 games this Wednesday night in Tokyo (Australian time)
Given that the capital of the Sunshine State is the only city bidding to host the games in 11-years time, that still hasn’t stopped Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner from heading up to Japan to impress the IOC delegates.
2032 isn’t Brisbane’s first attempt at hosting the games either.
It was back in the mid-1980s, inspired by the success of the 1982 Commonwealth Games and with Expo’88 a couple of years away that Brisbane put in an unsuccessful bid for the 1992 Olympics.
Just imagine if it had been Kieran Perkins winning his first 1500 meter freestyle gold in front of his home crowd, or the legendary US Dream with the likes of Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson strutting their stuff at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre in outer suburban Boondal than Barcelona!
All of Queensland was right behind the bid at the time, especially TVO Brisbane
Along with the local business lobby…
And how Brisbane didn’t get over the line to get the ’92 Olympics after this video of the children singing “Somewhere over the Rainbow” is beyond us…
Barcelona ended up winning the rights to host the 1992 Olympics, but all this talk about 2032, Brisbane, and bids has got us reflecting on some of the Olympic bids that were unsuccessful over the years…
MELBOURNE 1996
Melbourne had a crack at an Olympic bid in what would be 40 years since hosting the 1956 games.
The city did everything to get people on board, including a half-time display at the 1989 VFL Grand Final (Featuring a young Nathan Buckley waving a flag on the ground)
The Melbourne bid committee even produced a rap to encourage people to clean up the city to impress the IOC delegates.
Melbourne even got Tina Arena to belt out “I Still Call Australia” home at the final presentation.
Atlanta won the 1996 Olympics, and according to reports at the time, Melbourne did not take it well, expecting it to be awarded to Athens or themselves.
DETROIT: 1944, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972
If you think Brisbane and Melbourne got shafted in ’92 and ’96, Detroit holds the record for the most failed Olympic bids and never got the chance to host the games,
It took a while for the US City to get the hint.
LOS ANGELES: 1924, 1928, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1976
LA loves the Olympics.
The Californian city holds the record for the most Olympic bids – three successful 1932, 1984, and 2028 along with six failed bids.
ISTANBUL – 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2020
Istanbul (not Constantinople) has had a crack at trying to host every Olympics this century bar 2016.
While not in the running to host 2032, recent reports suggest they are having a crack at trying to get the games to Turkey in 2036.
BUDAPEST – 1916, 1920, 1936, 1944, 1960, 2024
The Hungarian capital has had six attempts to host the games.
Budapest came back into contention when 2024 was up for grabs but withdrew their bid in March 2017 after doing the costs.
Only two bids remained with the IOC awarding both 2024 and 2028 to Paris and Los Angeles respectively.
AMSTERDAM – 1916, 1920, 1924, 1952, 1992
Given the party culture, Olympic Villages are known for, the IOC delegates have really dropped the ball denying Amsterdam the games.
ROME – 1924, 1936, 1944, 2004, 2020, 2024
Rome has had a few cracks at trying to host the games, only successful once in 1960.
In 2016, Rome dropped its bid to host the games in 2024 saying it would be “irresponsible”
Fair to say, the city dodged a bullet not hosting the 2020 games.
LAUSANNE – 1936, 1944, 1948, 1952, 1960
The Swiss city never got to host an Olympics, but has settled to be where the IOC’s headquarters and museum are located.
MADRID – 1972, 2012, 2016, 2020
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The Spanish city has had four cracks at the games and got oh so close to hosting the 2020 Olympics (a good result considering)
Madrid has now given up.
MANCHESTER 2000
Imagine Cathy Freeman winning gold in the 400m at Manchester?
Yeah, nah, it was never going to happen.
SMIGGIN HOLES 2010
When The Dream returned for the Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympics, Roy and HG launched a bid for the tiny little-known NSW village of Smiggin Holes to host the 2010 Winter games down under.
Roy and HG regularly called on guests of the Salt Lake City Dream to get behind the bid, the caravan park to be used as the Olympic village, and that the Comma KFC would be the official caterer of the event.
Ladbrokes is not a sponsor of the Olympic Games, any Olympic Committees or teams.