Brisbane’s Olympic project is a mess. A slow-motion car crash where the drivers keep changing, and the route? Nobody’s even sure where it’s leading. The countdown to 2032 is on, but with governance chaos, financial uncertainty, and urban planning missteps, Queensland’s capital is at risk of turning its once-in-a-lifetime event into a logistical and economic disaster.

And if Brisbane wants a cautionary tale, it doesn’t need to look far—just ask Rio de Janeiro.

The stadium debacle

Brisbane’s Olympic story was supposed to start with The Gabba—iconic, central, easy to transform. Instead, after much debate and a ballooning price tag, the Queensland government scrapped the rebuild. And what did they do next? Exactly what you’d expect from a government in panic mode: backflips, hesitation, and an open-ended venue discussion. Now, suddenly, QSAC—Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre—is back on the table as the main Olympic stadium.

The problem? It’s too small, too outdated, and simply not world-class. “It will embarrass Australia on the global stage,” former Olympic champion Jana Pittman told The Courier-Mail, arguing that the plan is a disaster waiting to happen (Courier-Mail, 2024).

A decade to plan, and yet, not even a finalized location for the opening ceremony. If you think that’s bad, wait until you see the budget.

The cost spiral and governance chaos

Ask any Brisbanite: does anyone know how much this Olympics will really cost? No. And that’s a problem. While the original bid sold a “cost-neutral” Games, reality says otherwise. Just ask the Queensland Auditor-General, who recently slammed the entire project, pointing to wasted time and money due to constant political backflips and leadership changes (The Australian, 2024).

Four years lost to indecision. Now, Olympic officials are demanding the final venue list by July 2025—because if there’s one thing the IOC doesn’t tolerate, it’s uncertainty. Matthew Carroll, CEO of the Australian Olympic Committee, made it crystal clear: any further delays and Brisbane risks missing critical deadlines (News.com.au, 2024).

Lessons from Rio: When the Olympic dream becomes a nightmare

If Brisbane needs a reason to be worried, it should take a hard look at Rio 2016. The promises were grand: urban renewal, social inclusion, economic transformation. The reality? Ghost-town stadiums, abandoned infrastructure, and a corruption scandal so deep that it sent politicians and businessmen to prison.

At the time, then-Rio mayor Eduardo Paes assured Brazilians that the Games would leave a lasting legacy. But today, Maracanã—Brazil’s most iconic stadium—is in a state of decay. The Olympic Park, meant to become a bustling residential and commercial hub, sits largely abandoned. The athletes’ village? Transformed into luxury apartments that barely anyone can afford. And as for the city’s public transportation upgrades? Many of them remain unfinished, leaving Rio’s traffic problems as chaotic as ever (BBC, 2021).

Financially, the Games were a disaster. The cost soared to over $13 billion, much of it funded by public money. And where did that money go? A good portion of it straight into the pockets of corrupt officials. The Lava Jato investigation exposed a network of bribery linked to Olympic construction projects, proving once again that large-scale events in the wrong hands become money-laundering schemes disguised as civic progress (The Guardian, 2019).

Sound familiar? Because Brisbane is already showing the early warning signs: political infighting, budget ambiguity, and no clear long-term vision for how the Games will actually benefit the city.

The lost opportunity for urban transformation

The Olympics could—and should—be Brisbane’s golden ticket to lasting urban transformation. London 2012 was a masterclass in how to do it right: East London went from a post-industrial wasteland to a thriving hub. Barcelona in 1992? It turned the city into a global tourism powerhouse.

But in Brisbane? There’s no coherent long-term vision. There is no guarantee that new infrastructure will serve the city beyond the Games. There is no clear indication that this isn’t just another white elephant project in the making. Experts are warning that the city is failing to leverage the Olympics as a catalyst for sustainable urban development (The Australian, 2024).

And here’s the brutal truth: if Brisbane doesn’t learn from Rio’s mistakes, it could face the same fate. A city left with crumbling infrastructure, a mountain of debt, and a reputation forever tied to an Olympic-sized failure.

The next 12 months will determine everything. Because right now, Brisbane 2032 is at a crossroads: it can become a model of smart, sustainable urbanism—or the next cautionary tale in Olympic history.