{"id":950035,"date":"2026-11-02T16:28:12","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T16:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/950035\/"},"modified":"2026-11-02T16:28:12","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T16:28:12","slug":"concerns-for-olympics-rowing-grow-after-fresh-croc-sighting-on-fitzroy-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/950035\/","title":{"rendered":"Concerns for Olympics rowing grow after fresh croc sighting on Fitzroy River"},"content":{"rendered":"

A fresh crocodile sighting on the banks of the Fitzroy River has reignited debate on the suitability of the Rockhampton river hosting rowing and canoeing events in the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.<\/p>\n

A large crocodile was spotted on the banks of the river at the North Rockhampton Golf Club on Saturday, with the club sharing an image of the croc on social media.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The crocodile was found near the 11th hole at the golf course, sitting on the banks of the Fitzroy River.\u00a0North Rockhampton Golf Club<\/p>\n

\u201cBe aware people there is a crocodile on the edge of the 11th hole fairway,\u201d it said, with the crocodile seen lying prone and facing the river.<\/p>\n

The golf club sits opposite the Fitzroy Rowing Club, and puts a renewed spotlight on the decision to choose the river as the venue for several events at the 2032 Olympics.<\/p>\n

In September, Queensland<\/a> Premier David Crisafulli said the river had passed a safety review<\/a> \u201cwith flying colours\u201d after concerns emerged over the presence of crocodiles in the river.<\/p>\n

He hit out at rowing officials<\/a> from around the world who criticised the choice of holding events in Rockhampton, accusing them of being \u201coverseas elites\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen some of the commentary and I make the observation that some of the interstate and overseas elites are thumbing their nose because it\u2019s being held in a regional centre and that\u2019s what this is about,\u201d Crisafulli said in September.<\/p>\n

\"Premier<\/p>\n

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli has hit out at criticism of the Fitzroy River.\u00a09News<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s be honest, let\u2019s scratch beneath the surface and call it for what it is.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a group of interstate and overseas elites who don\u2019t want to go to a regional area.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, almost 6000 people had signed a petition<\/a> for the venue to be changed due to concerns about athlete safety while competing alongside crocodiles.<\/p>\n

The safety review into the use of the Fitzroy River for rowing events was completed by the International Olympic Committee, and included on-water investigations into how the course would perform, water levels, and flood risk.<\/p>\n

However, there was a reported crocodile sighting on the river in September during the Queensland school rowing championship competition, where hundreds of schoolchildren were competing.<\/p>\n

One crocodile farmer told<\/a> nine.com.au in March last year that Olympic organisers would be able to manage the crocodiles in that stretch of the river as the water temperature would be too low and \u201cmake them lethargic\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t eat much and they don\u2019t move much; they just struggle to keep warm,\u201d John Lever, a crocodile farmer from Central Queensland, said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can\u2019t digest food under about 25 degrees, so all the incentives to attack people are gone.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A fresh crocodile sighting on the banks of the Fitzroy River has reignited debate on the suitability of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":950036,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,85],"class_list":["post-950035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/950035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=950035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/950035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/950036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=950035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=950035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=950035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}