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Queensland Premier Steven Miles has backed Hamish Blake and Andy Lee’s campaign to get their lifetime ban from entering the Olympic Village lifted.
The radio hosts revealed earlier this month that they were banned from the iconic village for life after taking things too far at the 2012 London Olympic Games.
The pair were smuggled into the Olympic village after a mix-up with their access application meant they were denied entry, before they were caught red-handed by security and banned for life.
But as the 2024 Paris Olympics gets underway, a petition has kicked off calling for the duo’s lifetime ban to be lifted, with Queensland Premier Miles jumping on board.
The petition was started by Triple M Rush hour hosts Liesl Jones, Liam and Dobbo, and Miles revealed he has put his name to it as he made his thoughts very clear.
Speaking to the trio on their radio show, Miles shared:’This does sound like a real injustice to me, and I’ve been hearing about your campaign. I’ve signed the petition, and I’ll do whatever I can to try to convince the IOC to make changes.
‘And obviously, come 2032, we’ll have some say in the arrangements then too. And I think Hamish and Andy, they’ve served their time, and it’s time to let them back in.’
Thrilled by the Premier’s response, Liesl asked him if he has any connections in the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that he could call on to reverse the ban.
Queensland Premier Steven Miles (pictured) has backed Hamish Blake and Andy Lee’s campaign to get their lifetime ban from entering the Olympic Village lifted
Hamish and Andy revealed earlier this month that they were banned from the iconic village for life after taking things too far at the 2012 London Olympic Games
‘Yeah, there is. I reckon John Coates is the man that you want to talk to,’ he responded, referring to the current IOC vice president.
‘He’s pretty powerful in the IOC and spends a fair bit of time in Queensland.’
Liesl replied: ‘I think he would, I think John Coates, having spoken to him many times, I think he’d be very much on board.’
The petition has already garnered 253 signatures including some high-profile names such as Will Anderson, Adam Reynolds, Mark Geyer, Grant Hackett and Tom Rockliff.
Hamish and Andy recently detailed how they pushed the envelope a bit too far during the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
Appearing on Triple M’s The Rush Hour with Liesel, Liam and Dobbo, Andy detailed how he and Hamish ended up causing chaos by sneaking into the Olympic village.
The presenters had been due to speak to a whole host of Australian Olympians before the start of the 2012 Games, but a mix-up meant they were denied entry.
Andy had accidentally submitted an incorrectly completed security application showing his birth date as ‘that day’s date’, meaning they were unable to enter and interview the athletes.
The pair were smuggled into the Olympic village after a mix-up with their access application meant they were denied entry, before they were caught red-handed by security
However, an unnamed Aussie came to the duo’s rescue and smuggled them into the Olympic village.
‘Suddenly I went through on someone else’s (pass) and we snuck in, which was obviously a huge breach of security at a time when they were trying to prove that security was tight,’ Andy revealed.
He told how he and Hamish delivered ‘had a ball’ mingling with the Aussie athletes, before the Olympic security team realised the deception just 90 minutes later.
‘They dragged us and put us in separate rooms and there was a lot of interrogation. We were… just tight-lipped, and then the head of security came in,’ Andy said.
After being grilled by an understanding Australian head of security, Andy said the pair had to ‘agree to be banned for life’ from the Olympic Village.
He admitted it wasn’t the pair’s proudest moment with their actions seeing the Australian Olympic team punished by having some visitor passes rescinded.
‘That’s why I wasn’t really proud of what happened,’ Andy said. ‘I hate the fact that some people missed out.’
Triple M’s Liam suggested starting a campaign to get the ban lifted for Brisbane 2032, before Andy joked that the pair could ‘double down’ and try to sneak in again.
