Just four words set off one of the biggest parties this state and country have seen and put the world on the path to what are still remembered as the greatest ever Games.

What we know now, and probably suspected then, is that the frantic negotiations that went on behind the scenes in the final days before the announcement as organising committees representing Beijing, Manchester, Berlin and Istanbul left something of a bad taste.

And we know the story was being repeated every four years as a small group of IOC members basked in the enormous power that came with awarding a city the Games.

So 27 years on, a new selection process is in place that attempts to make it more transparent and accountable.

And that may well be the case, but if what we've seen this past week is anything to go by, the new process has also robbed all future host cities of their magical "the winner is ..." moment.

Brisbane has been announced as the IOC's "preferred candidate" to host the 2032 Olympics, a perfectly bureaucratic term to complement the purely bureaucratic process it represents.

We learned last week that Brisbane's bid had been elevated from the "continuing talks" level with the IOC to "targeted talks" - essentially meaning the Games are now Brisbane's to lose.

If the city can keep to a planning schedule over the next 11 years and continue to show it is on track to provide the facilities and accommodation the Games require, then it will be the host.

And what a terrific choice it is. Australia is a safe, affluent country for the IOC to turn to in times of great uncertainty and the nation has shown before that we know what it takes to host the Olympics.

So this is all fantastic news for Queensland and Australia, but you would have been hard-pressed to realise it from the slow trickle of official announcements coming out of the IOC and the Sunshine State during the past week.

But that will all be forgotten is just 11 short years when the world arrives in Brisbane for the second best Games ever held.

What started with a whimper will surely end with a bang.

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