The 2032 Olympic Games in Brisbane might seem a long way away, but there's no reason why fans in Dubbo can't get excited now.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
That's the feeling of Dubbo Athletics Club president Steve Gamble, who can see the city becoming a hub for international athletes in the next 11 years as they look to acclimatise for the Brisbane Games.
To some, that might seem a little farfetched.
But as one of the only locations outside of major cities that has an international standard athletics track, Gamble said there's no reason Dubbo can't push to host and help athletes as they chase their dream of Olympic gold.
"This is huge and for Dubbo, we need to work really hard to get some of these Olympic teams out here to train out of our facilities," he said.
"We have state of the art facilities here in town and it's important Dubbo takes a stranglehold on that."
READ ALSO:
For someone who loves the Olympics and sport as much as Gamble, it's an exciting idea that's worth pursuing.
It's not the first time something like this has been floated, as former Olympic sprinter Patrick Johnson said something similar during a visit to Dubbo in 2017.
Johnson, Australia's fastest man over 100m, was speaking in the lead-up to the 2018 Commonwealth Games at Brisbane and he was hugely impressed by what was on offer at Barden Park.
"You can really create Championships here and Grand Prixs and get visitors and overseas athletes here," he said at the time.
"With the Commonwealth Games coming up, this would be a great facility for athletes to train at. It's a great facility and a great track and I think people want that because it's hard to find good track and good facilities that you can use."
The chance to be a little more out of the spotlight while training at a standard up to the level required could also be seen as a bonus while training in the summer heat at Dubbo is certainly a way to become accustomed to Australian conditions.
"It's a tremendous opportunity for us, because there aren't a lot of regional locations that have a synthetic track surface and it would drive tourism into the city as well," Gamble added.
"The next 10 years are going to be really exciting and hopefully Dubbo will have an athlete competing at the Olympics. it would be super if that happened."
As id always the case, the current Games in Tokyo are expected to provide a real spike in events like athletics.
Gamble and the Dubbo club are keen to make the most of that, with big plans already in place for the 50th anniversary season of Dubbo Little Athletics.
The action at Barden Park is set to start on September 10, when the club will hold a mini gala day to show what's on offer.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News