
2032 Olympics: Toowoomba part of ambitious bid for games
TOOWOOMBA could play host to several events in the 2032 Olympics, such as mountain biking, if an ambitious plan from the South East Queensland Council of Mayors comes to fruition.
COMSEQ will today release its pre-feasibility study into hosting the games across southeast Queensland locations such as Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast and Toowoomba, with the 18-month study finding there was a "compelling" case for the games to be hosted in the region.
Toowoomba Mayor Paul Antonio, who is the deputy chair of COMSEQ, said there would be "enormous economic benefit" for Toowoomba if the region was chosen for the games.
"It might well mean we'd be pushed to develop mountain biking on the escarpment," Cr Antonio said. "We'd build a world-class facility for that.
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"The great thing about the Olympics are not only the games, but the focus on the region."
Cr Antonio said preliminary matches for sports such as hockey, tennis, rugby and soccer might also be held in the Toowoomba region.
"The big thing would be the possibility to accelerate development of fast rail to Toowoomba," Cr Antonio said. "The Olympics are going to be in 2032 and we'd clearly want to have that in place by then."
He said this proposal, like the recent southeast Queensland city deal, was the result of the COMSEQ mayors putting aside their political differences and working together for the region.
Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce CEO Jo Sheppard said the global significance of the Olympics would have "really positive flow-on effects for the local economy".
"Not only the visitors that would come to the city, but the local spend in the economy in the small business community would be great," she said. "Toowoomba being part of the global Olympics platform would be phenomenal for the city."
COMSEQ will now run a feasibility study into the bid, with the final decision on whether to proceed once that concludes. The location for the 2032 Olympics will be decided in 2025.