BRISBANE, Australia (AP) 鈥� A pesky native bird appeared on the podium almost on cue as organizers prepared to unveil a countdown clock marking six years to go until the .
Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner noted the timely white ibis in his welcoming remarks, joking with the crowd that it wouldn’t be an event in Brisbane without the appearance of a 鈥渂in chicken,鈥� as the bird is colloquially known.
There’s a small, humorous push locally for the ibis to become a mascot for the Brisbane Games rather than one of Australia’s more widely known native animals such as the kangaroo or the koala.
Schrinner didn’t miss a beat and the bird moved off before the big digital Omega clock officially started counting down Thursday in the downtown Queen Street mall.
That was a matter of hours after the Games Independent Infrastructure and Coordination Authority published revamped designs for the National Aquatic Center that will host Olympic events.
A ticking timeline
The new clock put even more emphasis on the diminishing time for construction for the Olympics, with no major works yet underway on the 3.6 billion Australian dollar ($2.6 billion) almost five years after to the Summer Games.
, president of the Brisbane 2032 organizing committee, said there’s no cause for panic.
鈥淪ix years is perfectly fine in construction, even under stress conditions,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 very confident that the contingencies are built (in) to allow that to happen.鈥�
Liveris said he briefed as recently as Monday in New York, in the wake of the final.
鈥淲e had a long conversation about timelines, venues, sports, and we鈥檙e confident it鈥檚 not 6 minutes to midnight,鈥� he said.
The International Olympic Committee last year backed the Queensland government鈥檚 revised venue plan after saying the Brisbane Games were 鈥渙n the right path.鈥�
There are still groups opposed to building major sports venues in the downtown parklands, and more general concern over rising costs of staging the Games.
GIICA, the coordination authority, only took over possession of the Victoria Park site for the 63,000-seat main stadium last month, after .
Questions over aquatic center revamp
It won’t get control of the nearby site for the aquatic venue until September. Organizers haven’t revealed if the temporary Olympic capacity 鈥� initially projected to be 25,000 鈥� for the aquatic center had been scaled down to avoid cost blowouts.
Whatever that temporary capacity is, Schrinner said the legacy outcome 鈥� a permanent 8,000-seat venue 鈥� would be 鈥渇antastic.鈥�
The Queensland state government, which is the major backer of the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games with support from the federal and local governments, sent the original concept for the aquatics venue back to planning for budgetary reasons.
The Queensland 鈥済overnment is doing the responsible thing, in these conditions and changing costs,鈥� Schrinner said. 鈥淵ou have to make adjustments to the plan, and that鈥檚 exactly what鈥檚 happening, it鈥檚 a responsible thing to do.鈥�
More than a dozen new sports venues are in the pipeline, including a contentious rowing center in Rockhampton, a coastal city in Central Queensland. Critics argue the impact of tidal flow and crocodile habitat in the Fitzroy River make it unsuitable to host Olympic events.
Liveris said all venues were still going through validation reporting, including rowing.
鈥淩ight now we鈥檝e had no red lights and some very good greens, and a couple of yellows,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd they鈥檙e being worked on for later this year.鈥�
Liveris said he was preparing a revised 鈥渂ottom-up budget鈥� to present early next year, after the IOC has finalized the sports program.
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