The Winter Olympics of Milano Cortina have shown the world what a dispersed Olympic Games will look like.
Concluding on Sunday, with Australia claiming its largest haul of Olympic gold ever at a Winter Games, the Games will always be looked back on fondly by Australian supporters.
Yet, they have not been without challenges.
Events took place across four separate hubs — separate enough that travelling between them was largely impractical and the events taking place within them largely unnoticeable.
Australia recorded best ever results in two-woman bobsled and cross-country skiing. It may as well have been happening in Latvia for all the impact it had on supporters in Livigno.
This is all part of the plan, though.
As part of the Olympic Agenda 2020, host cities have been encouraged to make use of existing venues, not only to reduce costs but also reduce the environmental impact of building new venues.
It is why the cross-country skiing centre of Tesero and the biathlon mecca of Anterselva/Antholz were used despite being hundreds of kilometres from Milan, why the Predazzo Ski Jumping stadium was redeveloped instead of a new white elephant being built.
In total, events were spread over 22,000 square kilometres — a monumental distance.
[MAP]As the first Olympics to be hosted under these obligations, Milano Cortina 2026 was a genuine test case as to how a decentralised Games would work.
Over two weeks ago, at the IOC conference in Milan, Brisbane 2032 organisers said it would be "very instructive" for their planning to observe the two weeks of action.
That was even as Brisbane 2032 president Andrew Liveris noted that hosting such a dispersed Games meant the existing budget for Brisbane's Olympics "bears no resemblance to reality".
The Brisbane Games have already been beset by questions over venues, with rowing being a particular sticking point.
Additionally, against the advice of the IOC, Brisbane has forged ahead with its planning for a brand new stadium and a brand new national aquatics centre, as well as the expense of building a collection of new sports centres in its various hubs.
It was put to Olympic Games executive director Christophe Dubi, who spoke exclusively with ABC Sport at the start of the Milano Cortina Games, that Brisbane's plans were not necessarily what the IOC had in mind when it mandated a spread-out Games.
"I think we have to distribute the wealth of the Olympic Games where they can have a real impact," Dubi said.
"We always knew that we would have to find an ideal location for rowing, [for example].
"OK, rowing, is it here or there? The conditions have to be met from a technical standpoint, but we know it's bound to be far [away from Brisbane].
"I think we have a much better plan now for equestrian, which was a huge development, versus using what we have and improving the conditions.
"So what is too far? I don't think there is any such thing, knowing that the Summer Games are so voluminous.
"And I don't say it's right, we have a lot of discussions regarding the sports program and the impact on the venues, etc. But so far, they are what they are.
"Finding the smart solution over a territory that might be larger than the romantic view we have of the Olympic Games, which is everything, everywhere, at the same time, in the same location, it does not happen anymore.
"Even Los Angeles, which is the megapolis par excellence, you will have surfing down south, you will have cricket to the east, and not every athlete will be staying in the village because it's simply too far.
"That's Los Angeles.
"So, what is the ideal distribution in Queensland?
"I leave it up to the organising committee and their partners to find.
"What I know, though, is whether we fly or whatever, it's a big beast. It's a beautiful one, though. It's extraordinary in its power.
"Power to assemble, power to transform, power to inspire.
"But it is a very sophisticated and large event."
Dubi noted that the Games of Paris 2024 were a gold standard of how to host the Games under the new stipulations.
"Yes, because sustainability, if you include socially, I think they've [Paris 2024] done all the right things," he said.
"Those investments that were needed were not in Place de la Concorde, where we had temporary venues, but it was up north [in Lille] where life is a little tougher, and this is where they've built all the new venues, the new accommodation.
"So socially, these [2024] Games made sense. They created employment where it was needed, not necessarily in some high-added-value industries, but more in the baseline jobs where it's giving jobs to people without necessarily the highest qualifications.
"And this is where they were very, very, very decisive in the choices they made.
"So I thought they were excellent, not only from an environmental standpoint, but from an economic sustainability and socially — everything was designed to render these Games truly sustainable and that, I think, is a real marker.
"So yes, on all accounts, I think that's the new marker."
So what of Brisbane's building program?
What of the environmental and Indigenous concerns around the building a stadium on Victoria Park/Barrambin?
Should the Queensland government stick with the original plan to redevelop the Gabba? Should it accede to the legitimate proposal to allow some events to take place interstate, where facilities already exist?
"[There are] a lot of moving pieces [when a decision on hosting the Games is being made] 10 years out, a lot of moving pieces," Dubi said.
"Can you blame it when a community realised that there is an alternative and that for the next 50 years, this alternative might be better than the plan designed a few years before? Can you do that? Certainly not.
"I think we have to be very cautious on the type of judgement we put on a given decision.
"If you look at Paris, did we have changes … it was very fitting to Paris, because the one thing we are very insistent is that the Games really have to adapt to the local context.
"So for Brisbane, it started with the three clusters, and that's entirely appropriate to what the region has to offer.
"Now, again, with so many moving pieces, between the villages, the sport infrastructures, the infrastructures at large — we could speak about the train, slight change to the train going up to Sunshine Coast.
"So you will have, of course, changes.
"As long as these are supported by, in a democracy, the larger part of a given community, it's not up to us to put judgement.
"The only thing we can do, though, is to put a framework around them about sustainability and about legacy — and that's what we do, and we are, again, very insistent on these two dimensions.
"I've come to terms with the fact that you have a great project and that nothing will change and it will work like a Swiss clock. It will not.
"I'm really happy that we are a little smarter when we learn a little more. And adaptations, if they are for the better, you know what? Good for them."
Dubi referenced the building of the Eugenio Monti bobsled track — at the very last minute — by Italian authorities for the Milano Cortina Games instead of going with the suggested option of using an established track in St Mortiz, across the border in Switzerland.
He noted that Games organisers did not need to reconcile between building a new venue and the environmental impact it could have, only that they were doing it for the right reasons.
"We have to stick to what we said," he said.
"One is it wasn't needed, but it was a decision from the community, from Rome to the Veneto region, and they decided to rebuild.
"On our side, we made our point, including [making] our views publicly and what we're saying now is no different than in the past, we think that it was not needed.
"Now you've done it? Congratulations. It was in record time and the athletes love it.
"But please make sure that there is a very solid legacy plan.
"The one that is currently working well from our standpoint is just across the lake from Lausanne in La Plagne — they have had quite a high level of activity from 1990 to up to today.
"They are really using the track for more than competition purposes — and it works.
"I don't say it makes money, that's not the purpose, but at least it's being used when you have such an equipment.
"What we hope from Cortina is that they can be as active as the most active of all, La Plagne, and make sure that what they have done is good long-term for the community, bringing additional tourists because it is an attraction if they need more tourists.
"Building a venue is not necessarily a problem, right? We don't say we shouldn't build a venue — we are in sport. Every time you build a sports venue, it's a good thing, right?
"But it has to be based on community needs. The community being high-level athletes or the community being you and I going to run out on the track any given Saturday. So that's the key point. It's usage."
As well as concerns about how the hubs would work, look and feel of them were a very real worry for organisers.
But Dubi said it had turned out superbly in northern Italy.
"I was very nervous for the opening ceremony day for one reason," he said.
"We said that one of the ways we want to have the athletes feeling that uniqueness of the Olympics [is] by bringing the ceremony where they are and not them coming to where it is.
"Have you seen the comments from the athletes? You know what? Thumbs up, hats off.
"I think by offering these unique opportunities and touch points with the Games that you can make a difference between [how a] World Championships [feels] and what we are.
"I truly hope that what worked for the opening ceremony will be the same feeling for the athletes in Livigno [during competition]."
From conversations ABC Sport has had with athletes in Livigno, they have been satisfied with how the environment feels compared to other events as being a lot bigger, befitting an Olympics.
"For the spectators, it's exactly the same," Dubi continued.
"You have to have the branding, the rings, the look of the Games, in order to feel that this is not just another event, these are the Olympics.
"And wherever you are, when you watch TV … it felt very much Olympics on TV. I think the product is extraordinary and it offers all the diversity between today, in Cortina or yesterday, Bormio.
"That's OK, but it's that feeling, that Olympic feeling, that you need to feel.
"When you are one of the happy few [who attends] because in the end the Games are for the masses — these are the ones that will share their stories of the Games wherever they are."
