Australian city Gold Coast offers to host Commonwealth Games 2026

This coastal city, located in the Australian state of Queensland, is currently gearing up to host Olympics 2032 in Brisbane, and hosting the Commonwealth Games will further aid in its preparations.

Earlier, the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) had struggled to find a host before the Australian state, Victoria stepped forward in April 2022, reported BBC News.

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The rescue plan put forth by Mayor Tate has garnered “full support” from Athletics Australia, the country’s governing body for sports. They firmly believe that Gold Coast is uniquely positioned to step forward and deliver a Games of exceptional quality, as demonstrated in the successful 2018 event that left a lasting impact on Australian sport. 

“We firmly believe the city is in a unique position to step forward,” the BBC quoted Athletics Australia as stating.

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The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) has not yet explored alternative hosting options for Commonwealth Games 2026 and is currently focused on finding a responsible settlement to the contract with Victoria, who cited escalating costs as the reason for their withdrawal. 

The decision to pull out was announced by Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews, stating that the cost had tripled and become “well and truly too much” for the state to bear.

Earlier in a similar incident, Birmingham had agreed to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games after the South African city of Durban withdrew from hosting the Games in March 2017 because of financial constraints.

Updated: 21 Jul 2023, 12:31 PM IST