Pacific Island success at the Brisbane 2032 Olympics, in all its sporting, cultural, and geostrategic dimensions, would be win-win for Australia and the region. But the work must start today.
Australian sport is respected and visible in the Pacific. The Pacific Island Forum’s 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent outlines how Australia and Pacific regional interests are served through sports diplomacy, partnerships and leveraging major sport events.
Australia also has a sports diplomacy strategy. A good one. But its broad vision overlooks the unique and specific opportunity presented to Australia and the Pacific, six years out from the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.
The promise at the launch of Australia’s Sports Diplomacy Strategy 2032+ earlier this year was to “capitalise on … our ‘green and gold’ decade” ahead of the Olympics, setting out how sport advances foreign policy, builds people-to-people ties, delivers development outcomes and showcases Australian values.
On the ground, Australia’s PacificAus Sports investment looks to improve the odds of Pacific women competing in elite sport through improved sports administration, including in many non-Olympic sports. Meanwhile, TeamUp delivers gender equality, disability inclusion and health outcomes through community-based sport for development initiatives including cricket, AFL, basketball and beyond.
These programs are important foundations. But to date, there is no visible masterplan for specific, Olympic-focused Australian support to Pacific nations ahead of 2032.
Australian sporting heroes, culture, coaches, footy clubs and programs are trusted in ways embassies and defence attachés simply are not.
Australia has a profound Olympic legacy with 610 medals won and a national identity of fierce performance, fairness, and love of an underdog. Meanwhile, Papua New Guinea has not made it onto the Olympic dais. High performance Australian sport is born from grassroots sport mobilisation, visible national ambition and world-class athlete support – tailored specifically to Olympic cycles. This is the recipe for success that Australia can share.
In 2032, Australia can host an Olympic Games that not only takes place in the Pacific, but resonates across the Pacific, accentuating the Pacific globally. This will require going beyond the sports diplomacy status quo, and specifically into the co-creation of medal moments, performance pathways and legacies for Pacific sport that will enhance an enduring connection to Australia.
Executing an effective Pacific strategy for the Olympics in 2032 should do three things: recognise, elevate and integrate Pacific athletes and sports organisations with Australia.
Recognising Pacific nations at Brisbane 2032 means putting Pacific voices squarely in the Australian sporting narrative. Imagine Pacific commentators co-hosting broadcasts on Seven, ABC and Stan Sport. Pacific stories should be woven into the Olympic torch relay as it moves through remote towns and outer islands. Pacific journalism and broadcasting rights can be syndicated across the region. It includes Pacific Olympic committees contributing at funding decision-making tables.
Representation and recognition are not decorative, but foundational. You can’t be what you can’t see – or shape what you can’t touch.
Elevating the talent, coaching and pathways for identified Pacific Olympic-medal prospects is also critical. Expanding Australia’s current support of elite female athletes to a specific Olympic-focused project would enable Australia to open the doors to its world-class high-performance systems for the next six years of runway to 2032 and beyond. Imagine: talent identification support, targeted scholarships for high-potential podium athletes training with Australian squads and coaches, as well as coaching exchanges. Plus Pacific leaders inside Australia’s sports system and high-quality sports researchers from the Pacific contributing to Australian sport, not as guests or aid recipients, but as peers.
We know that bespoke investments in high potential athletes and teams can work for high performance sport. And we know that Australia’s high performance sport systems are high calibre – facilitating access for Pacific athletes is key.
Integration of the Pacific Olympic experience with Australia’s goes beyond medals and athletes. It involves bringing together movement, culture, visitor experience and commercial arrangements. This should involve Pacific performances featured at the opening ceremony, and tourism corridors built for visiting fans from Sydney to Suva, Brisbane to Port Vila, with joint travel and tourism packages. It must take in streamlined athlete visa arrangements, lead-up events hosted in Pacific capitals and Australian-backed qualification camps. It goes further to Pacific and Australian support staff, physios and media producers working side by side.
This integration builds lasting relationships. Not through flag-waving, but through sustained, shared effort and focus under pressure. Olympians know that success is earned in training, so now is the time to start.
Critics of sports diplomacy say it’s fluff. When done poorly, it can be tokenistic. But when done with integrity and long-term commitment, sports diplomacy can be a powerful diplomacy tool.
Beyond that, in the Pacific, sport is one of Australia’s few genuine comparative advantages over China. Australian sporting heroes, culture, coaches, footy clubs and programs are trusted in ways embassies and defence attachés simply are not. A shared experience or win can do just as much or more than a signed communiqué. And in many circles, athletes build trust faster than diplomats, with less geopolitical baggage and more respect, visibility and shared aspirations.
If the Australian government wants to take advantage of the unique opportunity presented by Brisbane 2032, two simple first steps could include immediately mapping the Pacific Olympic sports ecosystem, including its commentary, athletes, research and talent ID work, coaching, support staff, media, tourism, culture and logistics realms. Establish priority areas for support, funding gaps and overlaps.
From there, establishing a Pacific Olympics 2032 blueprint. Not a glossy memo. A funded implementation plan that outlines strategic investment options and performance benchmarks, drawing on consultations with key Pacific and Australian sports stakeholders.
Brisbane 2032 is almost six years away. That’s 1.5 Olympic cycles. The athletes are already in training. A Pacific 2032 Olympic legacy is Australia’s to shape.
