Former competitive swimmer Lisa Curry has spoken out about the backlash directed at Queensland’s 2032 Olympics and Paralympics preparation.
WATCH: Lisa Curry returns to her first love – swimming.
The beloved Olympian appeared on The Project on Wednesday, criticising preparations for the Games after Premier Steven Miles rejected the recommendations to build a new $3.4 billion stadium.
“When Queenslanders are struggling with housing and other costs, I cannot justify to them spending $3.4 billion on a new stadium,” Mr Miles said.
Lisa took issue with this, saying: “Every country that puts their hand up for an Olympic games, they know how much it’s going to cost.”
She continued: “They know if they have the infrastructure or not, and I’m disappointed that now they’re doing a bit of a backflip and saying it’s too expensive. It’s just not good enough.”
Scrutiny over Brisbane’s ability or desire to host the global sporting event has hit a new peak following Miles’ recent rejection, which instead resulted in the decision to revamp the existing Queensland Sport and Athletic Centre.
Currently, the next three venues to host Athletics at the Olympic Games include the Stade de France in 2024, the Los Angeles Coliseum in 2028, and the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre in 2032.
The capacity difference between these venues has been a topic of concern for sporting celebrities, with the international venues being able to hold around 80,000 people while the Brisbane venue can barely accommodate 50,000.
“There’s no other way but to use the current facilities that we have,” Lisa said. “We’ve used the Gold Coast pool for major competitions… but as far as the opening and closing ceremony, the locations that they’re looking at now where the funding was going to be… $3.8 billion to redo it, I don’t think so.”
9News reported that there has been discussion within Queensland’s cabinet regarding the cost of backing out as hosts.
Lisa suggested that cancelling the Commonwealth Games would be an “absolute embarrassment” for Australia.
“We would be the laughingstock of the world and we would never get the Olympics ever again,” the swimmer said.
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