“And the winner is .... Sydney!! Host of the Sports Ambassador Podcast and Professorial Fellow at the University of Canberra, Tracey Holmes, says it was a high point for Australia.
Almost nine million people, close to half of Australia's population, tuned in for this moment as called by the ABC. Back in Australia, Ms Holmes says there's a range of factors that influence Australians' interest in the games. “It most probably doesn't have quite the same penetration back when we had mass media of radio and television and newspapers, which pretty much dominated what people knew. But now with the way people pursue their own interests through social media and on the web, means that you can sometimes avoid some of the big things but if anything has cut through, the Olympics has cut through and particularly if the Australian team is doing well, then I think people will become very engaged.
Professor Lockstone-Binney says the approach to the Brisbane Olympics will be different, what the International Olympic Committee is calling the 'new norm'. But after a change of premier that plan was abandoned, and Premier Steven Miles announced a review into the infrastructure for the games, which suggested a new stadium be built.“On the same day that the report was publicly released, the premier came out to suggest that those key findings or that key finding wouldn't be supported by the government and they proposed in fact that there would be substantial redevelopment of two existing venues instead.