Concerns over crocodiles in river for 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games

0:00Dave Roberts here. There you are surrounded by fans, sharing wings, sharing drinks, high-fiving random strangers. Everybody remembers the game. Nobody remembers the guy coughing behind you until a few days later. At 2 a.m., you wake up with a fever and your throats on fire. Now what? Urgent care? Close. ER? Slam. Telehealth? Maybe. But the pharmacy's close. You needed a medical emergency kit. These aren't first aid kits. They contain essential prescriptions used for over 30 common conditions. Sinus and ear infection, UTIs, stomach bug, travelers diarrhea, and more. On hand before you need them. Use your doctor-developed guidebook to select the right prescription or call their telemedicine doctor standing by. It's like an urgent care and drugstore at home. When you're sick, traveling, or stranded, you'll wish you ordered a medical emergency kit. Order online in minutes and it's shipped to your door and say $45 with my promo code blue at urgentcarekit.com slash blue. That's promo code blue at urgentcarekit.com slash blue.

1:01Okay, our next guest is a five-time world champion, roa four-time Olympian, triple-Elympic god medler. Basically he's one of the best people in the world who's ever pulled on an all. Drew Jin, good morning. Hey Tom, hey, go man. Well good. I think what's your this debate about rowing in the Fitzroy River up in Queensland with some interest? Now as I understand, A, it's a bit tidal, B, it has a crosswind, which we know in rowing is never very good. And C, mostly interestingly, it is full of saltwater crocodiles. Is the Brisbane Government, or the Queensland Government, are they serious about thinking that this is a good place to have rowing at the 2032 Olympics? No, but I don't know how serious they are about it. They're clearly stating that they're serious and in our name calling people in groups about people who are calling in the question. Look, I'm sure they've looked at alternatives. I'm sure they've considered as much as they possibly can, at least I hope they have. But the fact of that they're assisting when so many people who know the sport and also know rockampton and other

2:01solutions around Morton Bay, the fact that they're not stepping down from a obviously a promise around regional sporting event just ignores the fact that the Olympic Games is all about integrity and fairness and that's all the athletes and spectators want. I believe that overseas representatives from the IOC, the International Olympic Commission, actually asked whether the crocodiles would be pinned up, if they were told no, they're wild animals, they go where they want to go. It's a pretty hilarious sort of series of questions, isn't it? I think my understanding right now is world rowing is turning their attention to it. They're aware of it. The IOC, the International Olympic Committee, across it. I just feel like not enough actions happening. And if you think about the Sydney Olympic Games and how successful that was, that Sydney venue is a legacy item for not only New South Wales but Australia, that was started in the planning I used before and it was delivered six years minimum before. We raised that venue at 9 and 96 for years at the Olympic Games in Sydney. So for Brisbane to have these sort of questions and discussions in the IOC and world rowing,

3:02discussing whether or not crocodiles are there or whether not to release you, it just comes down to fairness and it's the sport and the Olympic Games want to host the best event, bring it close to the Brisbane, have it on a fair venue and then everyone will be satisfied and be the greatest event we've seen in Australia's history of sport. So Rock Hampton's a pretty decent distance from Brisbane. I mean, you know, the Sydney rowing was in Penroth which is, you know, back there about 30 minutes drive from the CBD a bit more of these days but it wasn't that far away and you could get public transport there but Rock Hampton's a long way away from Brisbane, isn't it? Yeah, six hours and I think what's been called into question is people are raising the concerns about this and being described as people that don't appreciate the region or regional. And so I can't, I grew up in a little town and we're locking South Beach Lane in Victoria to add that to Melbourne. I'd never want an Olympic Games venue to be hosted in that little town, it just can't cater for it and the future of it doesn't make sense. So to have it six hours away for spectators for not only Rome but also kayaking, it for me just so it says you're not really

4:02valuing the spectator experience. It's not made me need spectators to get out of the event easily but equally for the athletes, it's not just about performing. When you go to the games, you're there for a lot of the two weeks and it's the performance that you do, it's the event that you do but it's equally supporting your teammates in other sports and at end afterwards you don't get to do that when you fix the other way. Well, see and maybe they should have a look at Victoria's failed Commonwealth Games bit where the idea was to have a regional games with some sports in Shepardin and some in Bendigo and some in Belorat and I remember asking at the time, like were you going to put the athletes village because you know you can't just get to Shepardin in half an hour, you know, it's a three hour drive and there was never a good answer for that and that's why I believe that this sort of regional games of Victoria was actually never real, it was designed to get votes but they were never actually going to go ahead with it and I wonder if the Queensland government needs to look at this, this idea of having a sport that's six hours away, how will spectators get there, how will the athletes get there and there's no good answer to it. No, you're right, it's easy to make promises. I mean, I'm disappointed for the calm games that

5:06all fell over for Melbourne and Victoria but my understanding is the advice was given long before even some of those public announcements were made, don't do a regional event, it'll be too costly for you and if you think you can do it, just be prepared for the bill that you're going to have. For Queensland, we've got to know how much more expensive this is but it's not just a physical dollar cost, it's the cost on everyone who has to do the logistics, it's a security, it's everything else that comes with it as you know and we saw the common games golf show and in Victoria, we actually paid for most of that. Yeah, we do have it hosted in another country. And just came back to the saltwater crocodile, I mean, do they understand that sometimes in rowing people catch a crab or they hit something or whatever and they do fall out of the boat and having an athlete eaten by a saltwater crock is not exactly what you expect to see when you watch the Olympics. It would be a disastrous look, think about the crock, that's one thing, let's add flooding in there as well, so imagine if by chance and flooding could happen on any waterways, you know all too well, but imagine if all of a sudden we're told two days out that there's a storm coming and all

6:08of a sudden the course is going to have to be pulled up to ensure that we're mitigates from the risks. So not only crocks but then flooding and then you have cancellation of events, the Olympic schedule doesn't really cater for that, the television rights, everything that's involved, we do have a window of opportunity for rowing which is a week long, kayaking is a week long, so crocks are a concern, flooding is a concern but for the spectator experience it's almost like you don't want to have the risk of events not being run. Yeah, all right, thank you Drew, Drew, remember the awesome force and triplet Olympic gold medalist, it is a faster situation, I can't believe the Queensland government is trying to defend it. Dave Roberts here, there you are surrounded by fans, sharing wings, sharing drinks, high-fiving random strangers, everybody remembers the game, nobody remembers the guy coughing behind you until a few days later, at 2 a.m., you wake up with the fever and your throats on fire. Now what, urgent care, close, ER, slam, telehealth, maybe, but the pharmacy's close, you needed a medical emergency kit, these aren't first aid kits, they contain essential prescriptions, used for over 30 common conditions, sinus and ear infection,

7:10UTIs, stomach bug, travelers diarrhea and more, on hand before you need them, use your doctor-developed guidebook to select the right prescription or call their telemedicine doctor standing by, it's like an urgent care and drugstore at home, when you're sick, traveling or stranded, you wish you ordered a medical emergency kit. Order online in minutes and it's shipped to your door, and say $45 with my promo code blue at urgentcarekit.com slash blue, that's promo code blue at urgentcarekit.com slash blue.