In the world of sport, 2024 is not only a leap-year but also an Olympic year. The 2032 Games in Brisbane are a growing source of excitement for Australians. There are also the Winter Olympics every four years to keep us entertained.
Let’s look at the upcoming events and see what they could mean for Australian audiences and athletes.
The 2024 Paris Olympics
Channel 9 is a good example of how excited people are about this year’s Olympics. They bombard us with commercials.
Australia will likely finish among the top 10 in Paris after finishing sixth at the Tokyo Olympics 2020/21 with 46 medals.
The 2032 Brisbane Summer Olympics
It’s not surprising that the organizing committee has been formed for the Brisbane Games, even though the event is still eight years away.
The financial burden associated with hosting major events such as the Olympics is becoming more and more difficult for many countries. The planning for the 2032 games is underway with the goal of staying within budget and not breaking the bank with expensive facilities.
The Queensland government has initiated a review of the master plan and the costs it deems “over-the-top”. The estimated cost of refurbishing the ‘Gabba, the main Olympic stadium, is $2.7 billion. A new Brisbane Arena will be $2.5 billion.
Brisbane is confident that it will continue to be a great Olympic host, as Australia has been for many years.
Youth Winter Olympics 2024
In 2010, the Youth Olympic Games were added to the Olympic calendar for athletes between 15 and 18 years old. The fourth Youth Winter Olympics will be held in Gangwon (South Korea) from January 19 through February 1, 2024. This youth-based event, which includes 70 nations, 1,900 athletes, and 81 events, is gaining in popularity.
Australia is represented by its biggest team ever. Forty-seven athletes compete in eight sports, including the inaugural all-Australian Ice Hockey Team. Australia won seven medals in the three previous youth games. In Korea, we can expect even more.
There will be extensive media coverage of the event on 9Now and Stan Sport, as well as social media channels for the Australian Olympic Team, showing how popular this multi-sport competition has become.
The 100th anniversary celebration of the Winter Olympics
The 100th anniversary of the Winter Olympics is celebrated on January 25, a date that has special Olympic significance. In 1924, the first Winter Olympics took place in Chamonix (France). The modest event was held over eleven days and featured 258 athletes from 6 nations participating in 16 different sports.
The winter games were initially considered inferior to the summer editions, but they gradually grew and developed a better profile. The 2022 Beijing Games will feature 2,092 athletes in seven sports, fifteen disciplines, 109 competitions, and 91 countries, including some with no or little experience in winter sports.
The Winter Olympics have gradually gained in popularity since they began. Yosuke Haasaka/AP/AAP
This growth was due to several factors:
- The addition of many new sports and events.
- The X Games and their appeal to youth audiences.
- The addition of sports that were television-friendly.
- The promotion of gender balance.
- Increased corporate and sponsor funding, and starting in 1994, the move of the winter games from odd years between summer games.
Read more: Everyone’s a winner with new events at the Winter Games.
Australia’s Winter Olympics journey
Due to Australia’s warm climate, it is unlikely that Australia would be the first country to spring to mind when thinking of the Winter Olympics. In 2021, we ranked 14th in the Summer Games with 566 medals. We have always performed extremely well. Although we are unlikely to repeat this placement in the Winter Olympics, there has been a significant improvement.
Australia was not present at the Winter Olympics in 1924, 100 years ago. In 1936, it participated in its first Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, with just one competitor, speed skater Kenneth Kennedy.
After a slow and inconsistent Winter Games history, we finally won our first gold medal in 1994. Since then, we’ve won medals in every game, and our world ranking has risen from 25th to 19th with 19 medals.
Many of our winter Olympians put on exciting performances. Several athletes won two medals. Alisa and Lydia Lassila won two medals in aerial skiing, Dale Begg Smith in mogul skiing, Torah Bright in half-pipe skiing, and Scotty James in snowboarding.
Read more: Better late than never: Australia’s Winter Olympic medallists
By far, our most famous medallist is Steven Bradbury, who won a bronze medal in team speed skating in 1994 and then our first-ever gold medal in the same sport at the 2002 Salt Lake City games. He won unconventionally, shooting forward from the back of the pack to win after all the leaders collided and fell.
The “accidental” gold that Bradbury won became legendary and a part of Olympic legend. The phrase “to do Bradbury” has also become part of the common vernacular. It means to triumph in an unexpected and unusual circumstance. Bradbury’s achievements were recognized by naming an ice rink after him in the O’Brien Icehouse, Melbourne.
Australia’s athletes have been supported by investments made in infrastructure for winter sports and athlete development.
In 1998, the Australian Olympic Committee funded the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia. This has played a significant role in our increasing Olympic success. This investment is intended to improve our nation’s competitiveness in the Winter Olympics and develop new talent.
The media, corporate sector, and public have now joined the Winter Olympic bandwagon.
