When you’re scouting locations to hold Olympic events, there are probably dozens of factors to take into account. Can we fit some bleachers in here for crowds? Is this space safe for Olympic athletes and spectators? Is the river we’re going to use for a rowing competition filled with upwards of 500 crocodiles?
Once you answer those questions and create a pro and con list, you have to make a judgment call about the safety of the environment, and apparently the Olympic Committee decided that a river full of crocs is a perfectly fine place to hold the rowing competition.
According to BBC reports, Olympic authorities officially gave the green light to the Fitzroy River in Rockhampton, Queensland, to host rowing and canoeing events for the 2032 Brisbane Games. The venue passed its official independent technical assessment with flying colors, mostly because the assessment literally did not consider the 500 saltwater crocodiles that call the river home.
A River Full of Crocodiles Just Got Approved as an Olympic Venue
The assessment solely focused on, as the BBC reports, “assessment of wind, weather and environmental conditions; and evaluating flow, wind and wave conditions across a range of scenarios.” Those are all factors that absolutely have to be considered; now call me crazy, but maybe the 500 hungry crocodiles should be highly [LP1] prioritized, or maybe even just considered at all.
That said, other rowing organizations, like World Rowing and Paddle Worldwide, endorse the course because it provides “fair competition conditions,” even though a local club reportedly has signs telling people that if they capsize, they need to “get out as soon as possible.” Because of the 500 crocodiles.
In 2025, Brisbane 2032 President Andrew Liveris brushed off safety concerns by pointing out that people surf in oceans with sharks. The 500 crocodiles, it seems, are not a huge concern for everyone involved, likely because park rangers plan to relocate any crocodiles over two meters long before the event.
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