We are now less than eight years away from the Brisbane Olympics.
Judging by the performance of our athletes in Paris, Logan City will have no shortage of talent on the home stage.
But will the likes of Greenbank’s Mollie O’Callaghan and Crestmead’s Logan Martin carry us through to a successful 2032 Games?
The experts say “yes”.
Over the last two weeks, we saw local cyclists BMX freestyler Logan Martin and BMX racer Izaac Kennedy crash out in the finals.
They did their home city and country proud, and inspired a whole bunch of young, aspiring Olympic riders.
“Riders like Logan Martin and Izaac Kennedy have become the faces of Australian BMX,” BMX freestyle historian and professional rider Ross D Lavender said.
“They have shown the world that BMX is more than big kids riding little kids’ bikes.”
Mr Lavender said the BMX scene in Logan was strong, creating and inspiring the “best of the best”.
He said the city’s young and emerging talent was no different.
“We have a pretty solid line up of young, local riders coming through the ranks – both male and female,” he said.
“Ryder Wood (12), Raf Manning (9), Kayla McCormick (15), and Tobi Nakagawa Cronis (7) to name a few.
“Such a high level of riding for their age, incredible to watch, and fun to ride with.”
Mr Lavender said Logan had some of the best riders in the world, so we needed to give them parks that suited.
“With BMX Freestyle and Skateboarding as Olympic sports with a proven history of winning medals, I feel the traditional formula of designing public ‘skateparks’ that cater for all urban sports needs change,” he said.
“BMX Freestyle and Skateboarding require their own specifically designed courses for each respective sport.
“The Paris Olympics was an excellent example of the differences in course design.”
The director of the Griffith University Cities Research Institute, professor Paul Burton, said the Olympic Games were now about “creating legacy, not spending great amounts of money on a single-use venue”.
He said Logan stood no chance of hosting the more popular sports or the opening and closing ceremonies at the 2032 Games.
However, he said there was a role for the city to play.
“There’s a bit of a tendency to just look at those big venues, and to think if we don’t get one of those, then we’ve lost out,” Mr Burton said.
“But there will be teams and countries wanting to come over and train for a month beforehand and acclimatise to the Queensland weather.
“There’s going to be lots of them and they’re not all going to be using the same place, and that’s where, if you’ve got a facility, it can be used for training.”
Logan will be getting a new stadium with the hope it is utilised during the 2032 Games.
The proposed 7000 seat stadium will be built at Logan Central with the potential to host a variety of indoor sports – both during and after the Olympics.
Council hoped the stadium would, at worst, serve as a training facility for competing athletes.
University of Queensland associate professor Judith Mair, who works with a group focusing on Olympic Games legacies, said councils like Logan should aim to work with Brisbane council to get the best out of the Games.
She said most tourists won’t know that Logan is not part of Brisbane.
“When the Olympics happen, we will have one million people here – including athletes, media, etc. – they’re not really going to know where local government boundaries are, nor will they care,” Ms Mair said.
“I think there is an opportunity for Logan to be a part of the broader south-east Queensland destination for the Olympics.”
Mayor Jon Raven said Logan would have “more talented athletes” because it is the “youngest and most diverse city in the state”.
“The main reason why South East Queensland put in a united hosting bid was so we could see an uplift in sport, public transport and road infrastructure,” he said.
“That’s the lasting legacy for the Olympics that I’m focused on: a 50-year legacy from this incredible once-in-a generation event.
“I want to make sure that future generations of people living in Logan look back on the 2032 Olympic Games and realise how important it was in shaping our city.”
He said the opportunity wasn’t about the two weeks of the games, but “the 50 years afterwards”.
Image: Logan’s rising bmx star, nine-year-old Raf Manning. Image Credit: Wayne Cant.
