AustralianFan

…. and more on this from the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong: On Beijing 2022 Opening Ceremony Director, Zhang Yimou: “The Oscar-nominated director of Raise the Red Lantern, Hero and The House of Flying Daggers is leading a team to design the show. Zhang also directed the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.” “Rehearsals are under way for the pared down ceremony, without the large-scale artistic performances that marked the 2008 programme, state television said.” “Rather, technology will be used to make the opening ceremony “ethereal and romantic”, state television quoted Zhang as saying.” Beijing 2022: Zhang Yimou to direct Winter Olympics opening ceremony - 8Jan22 - South China Morning Post

Just in ….. Zhang Yimou named as chief director of the Beijing 2022 Opening Ceremony - 7Jan22 - Inside The Games “Zhang Yimou directed the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Olympics, and is also overseeing the Beijing 2022 Ceremonies.” “Chinese media reported Zhang is working with a crew of "high-profile consultants" and will also take overall responsibility for the Closing Ceremony and Paralympic Ceremonies.” "It is a great honour to direct the Opening Ceremony for the second time," Zhang told the Xinhua News Agency. "The burden is very heavy. Of course we know we cannot repeat Beijing 2008, so we are striving to be different from it," he admitted. “Only 3,000 are expected to take part, in contrast to 2008, which had a cast of 15,000, including 2,008 drummers at the start of the Ceremony.”

As expected, Australia has today joined the US and New Zealand in a diplomatic boycott only of the Beijing winter olympics in China. Australia joins diplomatic boycott of Beijing Winter Olympics - 8Dec21 - ABC News Australia

Wake up. Not a single country has announced a full boycott of Beijing 2022. Not a single one. Not Italy, not your own country Great Britain, not USA, not Australia, not any countryin the entire world. There are views that each government and prvate citizens around the world may or may not privately have on China and Beijing 2022. But so far, not a single participating country at Beijing 2022 has announced a full boycott at this point in time. Not a single one.

Yes and you are still totally incorrect. The invitations to government reps and the US President are issued by the IOC and have been issued a long long time ago and have nothing to do with anything else. You are incorrect because you do not seem to realise that China or the Beijing organisers do no send invitations to the US President to attend Beijing 2022. This is and always has been the job of the International Olympic Committee who are politically neutral - another point you seem to have missed.

Buddy, I’m fully aware of the debate going in Canada right now with some minority parties calling for a full Canadian boycott of Beijing. There is no sign at all of the Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada supporting a full boycott of Bejing 2022. None whatsoever. But, I would not rule out a Canadian diplomatic boycott.

Again you’re dreaming. The International Olympic Committee always invite the US President. It’s not China or the Beijing 2022, its the IOC who does the inviting. The IOC have already invited the US President to Beijing 2022 as they have done for every other Olympics. The IOC “own” the the Olympics with Beijing as the organisers. The President Biden has announced that no-one from the USA will be taking up the IOC’s invitation at Beijing 2022.

You’re dreaming. There’s no way or any evidence that Canada Government will have a full boycott of Beijing - nor any other country. However, Canada may well announce a diolomatic boycott as might Australia. But that’s it. Both Canada and Australia will send their athletes to Beijing.

The IOC response to the US diplomatic boycott:

It is standard procedure for the International Olympic Committee to always invite certain high level reperesentatives to each Olympic Games such as the US President. Sometimes, the US President sends someone else to represent them, such as an Amabassador or other ranking official even a VIce President or Secretary of State for example. At Sydney 2000, his daughter Chelsea Clinton represented US President Bill Clinton. At Athens 2004, President Bush decided not to attend but did attend the 2008 Beijing Games. At Vancouver 2010, Vice President Biden represented President Obama. At London 2012 and Sochi 2014 President Obama sent presidential delegations to represent him. At Rio 2016, President Obama sent Secretary of State John Kerry to represent him. At PyeongChang 2018, President Trump sent a presidential delegation to represent him as did President Biden at Tokyo 2020. One thing for sure at Beijing 2022, the US President was invited, as they always are. But this time, this time round at Beijing 2022, there will be no US representives at all attending due to the diplomatic boycott just announced.

No way will that happen. Don’t get carried away. There is no evidence of any country even considering a full boycott at this point in time. No offence, but this is a fantasy that is in your mind only. The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics will go ahead as planned and will be remembered as the Games when some countries applied a diplomatic boycott.

This is an interesting quick history of boycotts in the modern Olympic era …

Good to see that moves toward building high-performance of Australian athletes is starting already with Ignite 2032 in Feb. Igniting high-performance for Brisbane 2032 - 3Dec21 - QLD Govt “The Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS) is bringing together 400 elite-performance experts to ignite a competitive edge for Queensland and Australian athletes at the 2032 Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games.” “IGNITE 2032, Queensland’s inaugural high-performance sport conference, will be held at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre over two days from 4 February 2022.”

Looking forward to all the Brisbane Organising Committeee positions being filled so we can perhaps start seeing some early decisions being made.I understand the search for a BOCOG President has gone international, according to this Radio Station 4BC report:

REBUILT GABBA AND NEW BRISBANE LIVE ARENA THE KEY DEVELOPMENTS FOR 2032 OLYMPIC GAMES HOSTING - 22July21 - Australasian Leisure Management Planned 2032 Olympic venues and their status: Brisbane The Gabba (rebuild, 50,000 capacity) - Athletics, Ceremonies Brisbane Arena (new, 15,000) - Swimming, Water Polo Brisbane Aquatic Centre (existing, 4,300) - Diving, Artistic Swimming, Water Polo South Bank Culture Forecourt (temporary, 4,000) - Archery Brisbane Indoor Sports Centre (new) - Basketball South Bank Piazza (existing, 4,500) - 3x3 Basketball Anna Meares Velodrome (existing, 5,000) - Track Cycling, BMX racing Victoria Park (temporary, 5,000/25,000) - Freestyle BMX, Cross Country Equestrian Brisbane Showgrounds (existing, 15,000) - Equestrian Suncorp Stadium (existing, 52,500) - Rugby Sevens, Football (Finals) Chandler Indoor Sports Centre (rebuild, 10,000) - Gymnastics Ballymore Stadium (upgrade, 10,000) - Hockey Brisbane International Shooting Centre (existing, 2,000) - Shooting Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre (existing, 6,500) - Table Tennis, Fencing, Taekwondo, Badminton Royal Queensland Golf Club (existing, 15,000 - Golf Redland Whitewater Centre (new, 8,000) - Slalom Canoe Brisbane Entertainment Centre (existing, 11,000) - Handball Moreton Bay Indoor Sports Centre (new) - Boxing Ipswich Stadium (under construction, 10,000) - Modern pentathlon Lake Wyaralong (existing) - Rowing, Sprint Canoe Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron (existing, 10,000) - Sailing Queensland Tennis Centre (existing, 6,000) - Tennis Gold Coast Broadbeach Park Stadium (temporary, 12,000) - Beach Volleyball Cbus Super Stadium, Gold Coast (existing, 27,400) - Football (Preliminaries) Gold Coast Sports and Leisure Centre (existing, 7,500) - Judo, Wrestling Broadwater Parklands (temporary 5,000) - Triathlon, Marathon Swim Coomera Indoor Sports Centre (existing, 11,000) - Volleyball Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre (existing, 6,000) - Weightlifting, Volleyball Sunshine Coast Sunshine Coast Stadium (upgrade, 16,500) - Football (Preliminaries) Sunshine Coast Indoor Sports Centre (new, 6,000) - Basketball (Preliminaries) Alexandra Headland (temporary, 5,000) - Road Cycling, Race Walking, Kiteboarding, Keelboat Sailing Sunshine Coast Mountain Bike Park (existing, 10,000) - Mountain Biking Redeveloped Sunshine Coast Stadium Other Locations Queensland Country Bank Stadium, Townsville (existing, 25,000) - Football (Preliminaries) Barlow Park, Cairns (upgrade) - Football (Preliminaries) Clive Berghofer Stadium, Toowoomba (upgrade) - Football (Preliminaries) Sydney Football Stadium, NSW (under construction, 45,000) - Football AAMI Park, Melbourne (existing, 30,050) - Football

Paceway In Peril As Olympic Planners Eye Site - 11Nov21 - The Urban Developer “A Brisbane inner-city harness racing track will make way for a 12-court indoor arena for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games.”“The Brisbane City Council has confirmed an indoor arena will be built on the site of the Albion Park Paceway, on Yulestar Street in Albion, to host Olympic basketball games.”“Brisbane City Councillor Krista Adams, chair of the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games Committee, said the new Brisbane Indoor Sports Centre would include 12 indoor courts for basketball and volleyball, and would be on Racing Queensland-owned land at Albion.”

Wheels turn for 2032 Olympics and Paralympics to be ‘car-free Games’ - 5Nov21 - Brisbane Times

Grand old Brisbane building touted as new Olympics base - 27Oct21 - Brisbane Times Grand old Brisbane building touted as new Olympics base.

Council Negotiates Land Deal for South Bank 2.0 - 25Oct21 - The Urban Developer