AN OLYMPIC dream for Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area is being mapped out not by the titans of the sporting world – but a group of Australian expats who have the ear of influential leaders in their adopted city.
A push for the 2036 Olympics is at the heart of a newly formed committee under the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong. Members are actively encouraging a joint bid by Greater Bay Area (GBA) cities to jointly host the world’s biggest sporting event.
The group wants to build on Hong Kong’s recent success in hosting large-scale sports, entertainment and cultural events. And their proposals are already gaining attention in establishment circles, especially among government and sports officials.
Olympic rower Rachael Kininmonth and former Hong Kong government information officer Brett Free are co-chairing AustCham’s sports, entertainment and cultural events committee. Members have been spurred on by the success of events such as the Rugby Sevens and Coldplay concerts at the new Kai Tak Sports Park Stadium.
“We’ve been working on this for two years and have canvassed government and most NSAs (national sporting associations) and the HK SF&OC Hong Kong [Sports Federation and Olympic Committee) president and many vice presidents,” Kininmonth, who competed for Australia in the 2020 Summer Olympics, told MIX.
Kininmonth said the 2036 Working Group for the HK-GBA Olympic campaign, which she leads, is backed by the Our Hong Kong Foundation, an advocacy and research organisation, and the Australian Chamber of Commerce.
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Proposals have also been submitted to Xia Baolong, Beijing’s main official overseeing Hong Kong and Macao affairs, and Regina Ip, a member of the Hong Kong government’s executive council.
“Regina Ip is one of our greatest supporters… vocally advocating,” Kininmonth said following the committee’s launch this week at the waterfront AIA Vitality Hub in Central.
The committee is backing Kininmonth’s 2036 Working Group and it has issued a charter outlining measures to heighten Hong Kong’s appeal as a destination for major events.
Australia has a rich heritage of sporting and entertainment excellence which we can leverage to lift Hong Kong to new heights in this space, riding on the recent opening of the world-class Kai Tak Sports Park.”
– Brett Free
“Among projects we want to push is to gain momentum for a HK-GBA bid for the 2036 Olympic Games, which fortuitously falls in the next Year of the Dragon,” Free said, adding that the AustCham committee will be sharing its proposals more widely beginning with other business chambers in Hong Kong.
Kininmonth said an Olympic bid would not only heighten the GBA’s profile on the world events stage but also encourage youth in the region and across China.
“This proposal is ambitious yet entirely feasible, and the time to act is now,” she has previously written in an op-ed.
The Greater Bay Area is an economic region consisting of nine municipalities in mainland China and the two Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macao. Each major city has stadia and sports facilities along with international hotels and transport links including the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, high-speed rail and other infrastructure. However, travel permits and visas are among the documents required to transfer between the two SARS and mainland China.
