Champion swimmer Grant Hackett features among a group of celebrated Australian Olympians and Paralympians urging the Queensland Government to reconsider its contentious choice of stadium for the Brisbane Games in 2032.
Hackett, who clinched gold in the 1500m freestyle at the Sydney Olympics and defended the title four years later in Athens, is among 15 signatories to an open letter to Queensland premier Steven Miles critical of the decision to choose QSAC as the home of 2032 Games.
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The decision of the Queensland Government to ignore the recommendations of the Quirk Review, which it commissioned last year, has inflamed tension among the state’s sporting community.
The report, prepared by former Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk, recommended building a state-of-the-art stadium in the Victoria Park grasslands while decommissioning the Gabba, which is nearing the end of its viability and needs an extensive overhaul.
But citing budgetary constraints, the Miles government will instead upgrade QSAC, which was built for the 1982 Commonwealth Games, with temporary seating introduced to increase its capacity to 40,000, which would be the smallest host stadium since Amsterdam in 1928. This in itself is embarrassing for Queensland, the athletes say.
The Queensland Government also plans to contribute $1 billion to upgrading the Gabba and Suncorp Stadium, but critics say the injection of funds into the former will prove to be only a band-aid solution and that further work will be required after the Olympics.
In the letter released today, London Olympics gold medal-winning hurdler Sally Pearson and dual-gold medallist Leisel Jones joined fellow athletes in slamming the short-sightedness of the Queensland Government decision.
The group of Olympians and Paralympians said Brisbane would be embarrassed on the global stage should it persist with the QSAC option, as per its letter to Mr Miles.
“We, the undersigned, representing current and former Queensland Olympians and Paralympians, implore you to revisit your decision to host the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics events at the current Queensland Sport and Athletic Centre at Nathan,” the athletes wrote.
“While we understand that you want to get the best value for taxpayers out of the Games, we do not believe that the QSAC site represents that, not just financially but also in terms of a legacy for Brisbane and Queensland. And frankly, a main stadium with a capacity of only 40,000 would be an embarrassment which in no way would represent the go-ahead spirit of Queensland.
“Also, the QSAC facility is the nursery of athletics in this state, and any disruption to the site could only hurt our performance in our home Games. We all remember the magnificent event that Sydney put on in 2000. Queensland deserves something equally spectacular, without a centrepiece that would reek of compromise. It’s not too late to change your mind, Mr Miles.”
The other signatories to the letter are Jon Sieben, Brooke Hanson, Geoff Huegill, Curtis McGrath, Monique Murphy, Karni Liddell, Brenton Rickard, Melanie Wright, Chris Wright and Andrew Baildon.
Fellow Olympics Cate Campbell, Ariarne Titmus and John Millman are among those who have previously expressed their bemusement at the decision to ignore the key recommendations of the review.
Titmus is perplexed by plans to build a temporary pool for the Brisbane Olympics at the Roma St precinct, saying an investment in a new aquatic centre would leave a legacy and that Brisbane was “not putting our best foot forward as a city”.
Under the current proposal, the Brisbane Lions will no longer have to look for a temporary home away from the Gabba, but club chairman Andrew Wellington told foxsports.com.au last week they backed further exploration of the Victoria Park option.
“The Lions really believe there should be further investigation of the Victorian Park Stadium option,” he said.
“The current decision seems to ignore the fact that the Gabba will be nearing the end of its useful life around 2030. So regardless of what investments are made in QSAC or other options, there’s going to have to be some material form of investment in the medium to long-term at the Gabba.
“If you are going to do that, given some of the restrictions associated with the Gabba site, surely you would want to explore some alternative options.
“The Quirk report was quite clear that in that committees view, taking a legacy perspective, the Victoria Park option was likely to represent the best value for money for Queenslanders.”
Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley, who worked on the London Olympics, also believes the Games should create a lasting legacy.
“There’s going to be some significant investment into the Gabba … and we’re not going to be displaced from the Gabba, so having that clarity is really, really important,” he said.
“But I think we are working to really understand what all that means and ultimately what is really important is the longer term, what happens beyond 2032. And I think cricket fans in Queensland and footy fans deserve a fit-for-purpose, long-term solution that’s going to help grow our respective sports. It needs investment, regardless.”
Mr Miles said on Tuesday that while he understood the stance of the athletes, his priority was the citizens of Queensland.
“They’re entitled to their opinions but we listen to Queenslanders. They’re talking to me about their hospital, about their school, about how hard they’re finding it to make ends meet,” the Courier-Mail reported.
“When Queensland is facing those kinds of day to day challenges, I can’t justify spending billions more on stadiums, no matter how many swimmers ask me.”