Australia’s new Olympic chief hopes to leverage Brisbane 2032 in battle for talent

MELBOURNE – Incoming Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) chief Mark Arbib hopes the 2032 Brisbane Games will persuade the nation’s talented young athletes to pursue medals over football careers.

Australian Rules football and rugby league have long dominated the country’s professional sports market, offering the kind of salaries and support to young athletes that Olympic sports struggle to match.

Arbib, confirmed on April 2 as the replacement for outgoing chief executive Matt Carroll, said the AOC needed to compete hard against the National Rugby League (NRL) and the Australian Football League (AFL) to lure talent.

“I am a big fan of the NRL and a big fan of the AFL, I love those sports,” he told reporters in Sydney.

“They are absolute commercial giants, they are juggernauts. And we need to ensure that we are on a playing field and that we are fighting for every dollar and for every athlete. Because they are working very hard and they have been very successful in what they are doing.

“For me, that is one of the greatest challenges... fighting for athlete talent. Brisbane is the best way for us to leverage that.”

A long-serving AOC board member and former federal sports minister, Arbib has held various roles in sports administration, including posts at the World Anti-Doping Agency and directorships at professional sports clubs such as NRL team South Sydney Rabbitohs and A-League football team Sydney FC.

One of the 53-year-old’s priorities will be securing more government funding to support Olympic athletes and ensure Australia builds on its record haul of 18 gold medals at the Paris Games.

With 13 of those golds won in women’s events, Arbib said the AOC was concerned about potential Olympians being lost to the women’s competitions set up by the AFL and NRL in the past decade.

“Their women’s competitions are extremely successful, so we are competing for talent now in the women’s sports space,” said Arbib.

“And what I don’t want to see is that impacting upon our results.

“We need to ensure we are inspiring kids to join us to become Olympic swimmers, to become Olympic athletes – that is the dream.”

Meanwhile, the crocodiles that inhabit the Fitzroy River appear not to be too much of an issue but the water current could scupper plans to stage the rowing at the 2032 Olympics in Rockhampton, some 600km north of Brisbane.

While the Fitzroy River is home to crocodiles, the waterway is used for rowing by schools, a local club as well as for elite training.

“While the facility has been suitable in a training capacity, it has not undergone any technical feasibility study that would confirm its ability to host national or international level racing,” Rowing Australia said in a statement after a March 25 proposal to hold the rowing events at the Fitzroy River.

It added: “Any river current that could impact results or favour certain lanes are not permissible under the rules.” REUTERS