Surf life saving's 'very positive' bid for Brisbane Olympics shot

Eight years after breakdancing's emergence on the Olympic stage in Paris and four years after sports such as flag football join the party in Los Angeles, surf life saving could get its shot when the cauldron is lit at Brisbane 2032.

And surf life saving's push to become an Olympic sport has received a "really warm reception" from those ultimately tasked with deciding whether it's in or out, according to a key man in the bid.

That man is John Baker, the president of Surf Life Saving Australia (SLSA) and a board director with the International Life Saving Federation (ILSF), who said the sport's contribution to a "better world" and its competitive reach across the globe gave weight to its Olympic bid, which was launched in April last year.

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SLSA and the ILSF are lobbying with the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC), the Brisbane 2032 Organising Committee and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

"We've received a really warm reception ... We've got a lot of prominent people within those three tiers that are very supportive of the idea," Baker told Wide World of Sports.

"So no one's basically said to us, 'You're mad' ... It's off to a very, very positive start."

The plan is for individual oceanman and oceanwoman events to be run at the Brisbane Games, as well as a mixed-gender ocean relay.

In the individual events, athletes contest a 1200-metre race consisting of a swim leg, a board leg, a surf ski leg and a beach sprint finish.

In the relay event, teams of four consisting of two men and two women complete a swim, a board paddle, a surf ski paddle and a run.

Maroochydore, Broadbeach and Coolangatta are among the beaches most likely to host Brisbane 2032 competition, Baker said.

"This would be the first time that any Olympic sport would ... have its origins as a humanitarian movement and an emergency service," Baker added.

"All life saving competitors around the world need to fulfil their obligations as patrolling life guards or life savers to be eligible to compete in national and international events.

"It's a really good story and it really ties in with the IOC's ambition to build a better world through sport. That's their narrative. And when you think about it, life saving around the world, what better example of building stronger and more resilient and better communities through ... sport is there than international life saving?"

Baker pointed out the ILSF had 115 full member nations and some 30 million members.

He also argued that surf life saving was a sport more globally competitive than many would probably think.

"One of the key things we're stressing is this is not about putting an event in where Australia can easily dominate, because that's not actually the case," Baker said.

"... There are a lot of really strong nations that compete extremely well in the oceanman and oceanwoman.

"We're really conscious that one of the criteria for the AOC or IOC is that there is a genuine global footprint and a genuine global base to draw upon.

"We need to demonstrate that we've got the ability to draw on a group of really competitive nations from around the world, so there's no sort of bias."

Baker said the outcome of the bid would likely not be known until 2028.