IOC President backs 2028 Australian Olympic bid during Canberra visit

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach has said a bid from Australia to host the Summer Olympics for the third time in 2028 would have a "great chance" of being successful.

Anticipating what he hopes will be  would be a hotly contested bidding process during a visit to Canberra, the IOC President has today (30th April) met Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to discussed a future bid to follow the success of the Melbourne Games in 1956 and Sydney in 2000.

Bach told a news conference “a bid from Australia would enjoy a lot of sympathy and would have a great chance of winning.

"This is for 2028 and it is a long way away and I told him I hoped Australia would face a tough competition to host the Games.

The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) early this month offered its backing to a prospective bid for the 2028 Olympics by the mayors of South-East Queensland, centred on the city of Brisbane while Melbourne has also expressed its interest in again hosting the event.

Bach said Australia's great contribution to the Olympic movement through sports administrators and the country's famous love of sport would make a bid attractive and added that it would not be too soon for a return to the country.

He added “it would be 28 years after the Sydney Games, this is not too soon to come back to Australia and Oceania.

"The Games are rotating around the world but there is no established rotation by the years.

"It would be wise for the Australians to be candidates for the Olympic Games while there are people who are still alive to remember the great success of the Sydney Games."

Only Athens, London and the United States have hosted the Summer Games more than twice.

The Olympics will be held in Brazil for the first time next year, while Tokyo will host the Summer Games for the second time in 2020.

Yesterday Bach visited Sydney to assess the legacy of the 2000 Olympics, visiting the Olympic (ANZ) Stadium to recapture some of the magic from the ‘best Games ever’.

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