The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has named Brisbane, Australia as the preferred bidder to host the 2032 Olympic Games.
The IOC’s future host commission recommended the body enters “targeted dialogue” with Brisbane bid organisers and the Australian Olympic Committee.
Several cities and countries had expressed an interest in hosting the Games, including Indonesia, Budapest, China, Doha and Germany’s Ruhr Valley.
Sydney hosted the 2000 Olympic Games.
The state of Queensland hosted the 2018 Commonwealth Games and Brisbane was praised for its high percentage of existing venues, a good masterplan, experience in organising major events and its favourable weather.
The IOC overhauled its bidding rules in 2019 to reduce costs and make the process easier for cities. There are no official candidate cities campaigning before the vote as has been the case in the past.
The delayed 2020 Olympics will be held in Tokyo, Japan in the summer, with Paris in France staging the 2024 Games and Los Angeles in the United States hosting the 2028 Olympics.
Weightlifting’s Olympic future at risk
Meanwhile, IOC president Thomas Bach said that weightlifting could be removed from the Olympic programme by 2024 if the sport’s international federation fails to implement reforms in the fight against doping.
The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) has been hit by doping scandals and accusations of corruption in recent years.
Controversial president Tamas Ajan left his post but, last October, the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) said 18 weightlifters from six countries were suspected of supplying false urine samples as Wada found evidence of “doppelgangers” being used to impersonate athletes.
The IOC has already previously threatened to remove its status as an Olympic sport.
“The situation is becoming more and more grave,” Bach said.
“Many requested changes have been ignored by the IWF despite all the warnings we issued.”