Brisbane 2032 Marks 10 Years Out from Summer Olympics

President of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach announces Brisbane as the 2032 Summer Olympics host city during the 138th IOC Session at Hotel Okura in Tokyo, July 21, 2021. (AP)
President of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach announces Brisbane as the 2032 Summer Olympics host city during the 138th IOC Session at Hotel Okura in Tokyo, July 21, 2021. (AP)
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Brisbane 2032 Marks 10 Years Out from Summer Olympics

President of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach announces Brisbane as the 2032 Summer Olympics host city during the 138th IOC Session at Hotel Okura in Tokyo, July 21, 2021. (AP)
President of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach announces Brisbane as the 2032 Summer Olympics host city during the 138th IOC Session at Hotel Okura in Tokyo, July 21, 2021. (AP)

Brisbane 2032 Olympic officials staged an event Saturday that not many other previous host cities have had the opportunity to celebrate: 10 years out until their Games begin.

The east coast Australian city and capital of Queensland state was awarded the 2032 Games a year ago after the International Olympic Committee rubber-stamped an earlier recommendation from its Executive Board.

Brisbane was the first city to be awarded a Games under the IOC's revamped procedure for choosing host cities which saw a small group of IOC members identify and propose host cities to the board.

Previously Games had been awarded to both Summer and Winter Games hosts seven years out from them being held -- although at an IOC session in 2017, the IOC chose both Paris (2024) and Los Angeles (2028) as future host cities.

The Brisbane Games are scheduled to be held from July 23 to Aug. 8, 2032 in Brisbane and in coastal communities south on the Gold Coast and north on the Sunshine Coast.

On Saturday, the Australian Olympic Committee held a family fun day with the public along the riverfront in downtown Brisbane with a slogan “Our Time Starts Now.”

“That’s how we look at the incredible opportunities over the next decade,” AOC chief executive Matt Carroll said in a statement. “We have talked about more than 30 major international sporting events coming to Australia and community infrastructure coming on-line in the decade ahead.”

The Brisbane organizing committee is still composed of only a skeleton staff but officials hope to name a fulltime chief executive officer by the end of this year. Current plans are for six new venues and eight redeveloped facilities among 22 competition sites.

Australia last staged the Summer Olympics in 2000 at Sydney and hosted the Games for the first and only other time in Melbourne in 1956.



Daniil Medvedev Destroys TV Camera Attached to the Net During 5-Set Australian Open Win

Daniil Medvedev of Russia smashes his racket while in action against Kasidit Samrej of Thailand during their Men's Singles first round match during the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 14 January 2025. (EPA)
Daniil Medvedev of Russia smashes his racket while in action against Kasidit Samrej of Thailand during their Men's Singles first round match during the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 14 January 2025. (EPA)
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Daniil Medvedev Destroys TV Camera Attached to the Net During 5-Set Australian Open Win

Daniil Medvedev of Russia smashes his racket while in action against Kasidit Samrej of Thailand during their Men's Singles first round match during the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 14 January 2025. (EPA)
Daniil Medvedev of Russia smashes his racket while in action against Kasidit Samrej of Thailand during their Men's Singles first round match during the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 14 January 2025. (EPA)

Daniil Medvedev used his racket to smash a tiny camera attached to the net at the Australian Open while he was trailing someone ranked 418th before eventually avoiding a monumental upset and winning 6-2, 4-6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 in the first round at Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday.

The No. 5-seeded Medvedev earned the title at the 2021 US Open and is a three-time runner-up at Melbourne Park, including a year ago, but was hardly playing his best in the second and third sets against Kasidit Samrej, a wild-card entry from Thailand who was making his Grand Slam debut.

“I know I play better when I play more tennis,” Medvedev joked afterward. “So I was like, ‘Why play 1 hour, 30 (minutes)?’ Need a minimum of three hours, at least, to feel my shots better.”

The camera-destroying racket swings happened in what would be the last game of the third set, which Samrej claimed to take a two-sets-to-one-lead in the best-of-five match.

Medvedev's display of anger came after he lost a 13-stroke point to trail 40-15. Samrej hit a shot that clipped the net, altering its trajectory and throwing off the Russian's balance, before a cross-court forehand passing winner left Medvedev unable to make contact.

Medvedev went up to the net and brought his racket forward with full force five times, breaking his equipment while shattering a small black camera and sending pieces of it flying. That earned a code violation warning for racket abuse from the chair umpire.

Soon enough, Medvedev had dropped the set, leaving him with plenty of work to do to avoid a massive upset in his first match of the 2025 season. Medvedev quickly did turn things around, though, claiming 12 of the remaining 15 games, and 61 of the remaining 94 points.

He finished with 24 aces and fewer than half as many unforced errors as Samrej, 34 to 69.

“In the end of last year, this match, I probably would have lost it,” said Medvedev, who went 3-1 in five-setters at the 2024 Australian Open. “New year, new energy.”

Samrej got treatment from a trainer because of a problem with his left leg late in the fourth set.

He was trying to become the lowest-ranked man to eliminate one of the top five seeded players at a Grand Slam tournament since the ATP's computerized rankings began in 1973, according to the International Tennis Federation.

The biggest such result entering Tuesday was when No. 234 Alex Kim beat No. 4 Yevgeny Kafelnikov at the 2002 Australian Open.

Samrej earned his way into this year's Australian Open bracket by going through four rounds of a wild-card playoff for the Asia-Pacific region in November. He never had played against someone ranked higher than 78th until Tuesday and never has beaten anyone ranked higher than 157th.

“I watched his matches, and I didn't see this level, so I was surprised,” Medvedev said. “If he plays like this every match, his life will be good.”