The redevelopment of the Ballymore site has been tipped as a ‘rebirth’ by the state government that would deliver an upgraded 15,000 capacity stadium for Olympic hockey in a decade’s time.
On Sunday,the area was beneaththe swollen Enoggera Creek. By Monday,shovels — along with brooms and pressure washers — had the less ceremonial task of clearing mud from gyms and change rooms,brown puddles lingered on carefully kept grass.
Brisbane and the broader south-east’s propensity for flooding rains has only been cemented in recent days and years,highlighting now-historical planning bungles around major rivers and their tributaries,and achanging sub-tropical climate.
The 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games,centred in the state’s capital but stretching mostly across the 200-kilometre metropolitan area between the Gold and Sunshine coasts,will be held between late July and early September — unless the International Olympic Committee decided otherwise,at a significant cost to the hosts.
It will also be the first to have occurred in the middle of an Australian winter,with the Sydney 2000 and Melbourne 1956 games held in spring and summer,respectively. (The only other Southern Hemisphere staging — Rio de Janeiro — took place in August 2016).
Part of the argument for Brisbane to host the games,as laid out in the bid team’s own documents pitching to the IOC last year,was the weather:fewer than five days of rain on average across the month and temperatures in the low 20s.
Local sporting and school calendars were also a factor,as was the need to maximise the US television audience - who have shown a preference for mid-year events in the Northern Hemisphere summer.