The guessing game over the Brisbane 2032 emblem has begun as questions are also being raised over a koala habitat being approved as an Olympic venue.
Swimming great Ian Thorpe and four-time Paralympic medallist Grant Patterson unveiled the first piece of the emblem puzzle in far north Queensland on Tuesday as part of a six-day build-up.
The high-profile pair “discovered” the piece on the Great Barrier Reef and transported it to Cairns as the countdown began for the full reveal in Brisbane on Monday.
The Sunshine Coast is set to host multiple events at the Games including football, mountain biking and possibly basketball, road cycling, marathon and ocean sports.
The identity of the first piece of the emblem remains a mystery with speculation that it could be anything from a crocodile’s tooth to a ray of sunshine or a mango.
Thorpe had another idea after bringing it to shore at the Cairns Esplanade Lagoon with Patterson.
“I saw a turtle out on the Great Barrier Reef, so I actually think it might be one of the fins of a turtle that is part of the largest coral reef in the world,” he told reporters.
Townsville is the next stop on the six-part unveiling of the emblem that is being teased before the full reveal and community party on Monday.
Thorpe grabbed three gold at Australia’s last home Olympics in Sydney 2000, including the famous 4x100m freestyle relay win in world-record time over an American team who threatened to “smash them like guitars”.
Despite his fond memories, Thorpe hoped Brisbane would exceed Sydney in 2032.
“I would love to see Brisbane be a better Games than the Sydney Olympics,” he said.
Another 2032 piece fell into place after the federal government rejected the need for a full environmental impact assessment of the proposed canoe slalom venue southeast of Brisbane.
But a conservation group is up in arms over the hurdle being cleared for the Redlands Whitewater Centre, with fears over the potential impact on the local koala population.
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The proposed facility sat above a natural aquifer that would be drained to replicate the surging whitewater of a wild river, Community Alliance for Responsible Planning president Lavinia Wood said.
The aquifer fed trees the koalas depended upon and the proposed infrastructure would cause further fragmentation of their remaining habitat, she said.
Redlands shire, situated on Redland Bay between Brisbane and the Gold Coast, is a noted refuge for koalas, now an endangered species.
“There is a double whammy in this,” Ms Wood told AAP.
“Not only are they going to break into the aquifer, but all of the car parking and associated infrastructure will seal the land.”
She said it had been hoped the evidence submitted to the National Environment Protection Agency would convince federal Environment Minister Murray Watt to order an environmental impact statement.
“The Olympic legacy for the people of the Redlands will now be the ongoing financial burden of a whitewater centre we did not want, on precious conservation lands where it should never have been,” she said.
National Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday said the proposed centre was unlikely to have a significant impact on the local koala population.
A spokesperson said the area of about 20ha that would be disturbed was predominantly open space, with another 39ha retained as a conservation area.
A koala management plan would be in place during construction and clearing.
Redland City Council said the decision validated its scientific work for the site.
