According to the latest announcement by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the question arises: What should be used to distract from what?

Does the Lausanne power center want to divert attention from the problems of the shaky sterile games in Tokyo with the - not necessarily urgent - decision to propose the Australian city of Brisbane to the General Assembly as host of the 2032 Olympic Games as early as July 21?

Or does she want to use the time when all the critics, based on the Tokyo Games, are thinking about Olympia's obsession with money, which has been completely exposed by the coronavirus, in order to get through the opaque allocation of the Games in eleven years as inconspicuously as possible?

Evi Simeoni

Sports editor.

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    Maybe both. One thing is certain: Brisbane is through. IOC President Thomas Bach announced on Thursday evening by video conference from Lausanne that the Executive Committee had just unanimously passed the proposal to the General Assembly. And because Brisbane was the only IOC candidate to have had a chance to seriously apply, and because IOC members only come together to nod off Bach's plans, the people in Queensland who are behind the Olympics can now celebrate.

    As early as February, the executive had declared Brisbane the “preferred candidate”, the only one with whom it would continue the dialogue. So while the Australian applicant was entering the home straight, other interested parties had not even made it to the start. In addition to India, Indonesia, Qatar and South and North Korea, this group of those who had passed also included the Rhine-Ruhr Initiative, which was completely taken by surprise but declared that it did not want to give up.

    On Thursday, Bach once again emphasized in striking detail that it was a "very transparent" process. In 2019, the IOC decided to reform its procurement practice, the aim of which was to increase the number of potential applicants after it had previously shrunk dramatically. In addition, the problem of corruption within the IOC membership should end. The “Future Host Commission” should be the point of contact and inspection body for everyone. But probably nobody had imagined such a solo run under the new procedure.

    "It is a proposal in favor of Brisbane, but also in favor of a dialogue with the other interested parties," said Bach. The IOC president had already stated at a press conference in February that there was no conflict of interest with regard to IOC Vice President John Coates, one of his most important supporters. This is not involved in the decisions on the Brisbane issue. Coates is next to several heavyweight functions - among other things, he fights as chairman of the coordination commission to host the Olympic Games in Tokyo - also president of the Australian Olympic Committee and thus front man of the application of Brisbane. Bach stated that all those interested in 2032 wanted to continue with a view to 2036, even 2040. "I don't think they would be ready to continue,if they were so critical of the process, ”he said.