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Old 05-28-2014, 05:13 PM
 
Location: Arizona
8,244 posts, read 8,591,646 times
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I wonder why the thread title mentioned democracy. The Olympics are supposed to be non political (thanks Jimmy Carter).
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Old 05-28-2014, 05:48 PM
 
47 posts, read 150,923 times
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Default Why not let

Salt Lake City have the games again? The Olympic Venues from the last time we held the Games are still in use today. It makes sense and I know Salt Lake wants the Games back. What do you think?
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Old 05-28-2014, 08:25 PM
 
Location: Hiding from Antifa!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by james777 View Post
Kind of. In English we have other sayings such as "money is the root of all evil", and "you can tell when a politician is lying which you see his lips moving". Both sayings apply to the Olympics.
Common mistake. It's "The love of money is the root of all evil". Big difference. It's not evil to have it.
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Old 05-28-2014, 10:17 PM
 
Location: SoCal
5,899 posts, read 5,775,911 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pch1013 View Post
Interesting. The only two plausible remaining candidates -- the other cities having all decided to withdraw their bids, mostly because of local opposition -- are Almaty and Beijing. Neither is exactly a paragon of pluralism.

Nobody Wants To Host The 2022 Olympics

This says a lot about the Olympic Movement, none of it good.
What exactly are the specific reasons for this?
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Old 05-29-2014, 04:18 AM
 
Location: Tucson for awhile longer
8,869 posts, read 16,277,552 times
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There is no reason why the indoor sports usually held as part of the Summer Olympics can't be held during the Winter Olympics. Gymnastics, swimming, fencing, weight lifting, wrestling, a host of other "summer" sports are held indoors. Why does it have to be summer outdoors when the actual events are taking place in venues with roofs and HVAC systems? It would reduce the out-of-control size of the Summer games and build up and diversify the Winter games, making both situations more attractive for some hosts. I'm not suggesting that tennis be played in February, but why can't the gymnastic Olympic competitions, for example, take place during the winter?

Lots of cities/countries are prepared to host international competitions, not just ones the size of the Olympics. Why do all the Olympic games even have to be held in the same country? Split 'em up. The only thing that would be significantly different would be the closing and opening ceremonies. And why can't they, too, be held in a group of venues rather than one, but simultaneously, the whole thing joined together in cyberspace and beamed to the world in a creative way.

Have the ski events in Finland, the ice events in England, the other events in Germany. The times zones aren't even that off. The Olympics could alternate continents, rather than countries. Have the "South American Winter Olympics" in our summer! Skiing at Portillo, the most famous ski resort in the Andes, the ice events in Buenos Aires, other games in Sao Paulo. But it would have to take place between June and September. But why not?

The Olympics are too stuck in their old traditions. We're a worldwide web now.
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Old 05-29-2014, 07:51 AM
 
Location: Live in NY, work in CT
11,262 posts, read 18,798,239 times
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If Beijing got it they would be the first city to host both a Summer and Winter Olympics (Munich attempted to do that feat recently with an eventually lost Winter Olympics bid, but I don't remember which Olympics they were going for, I think either 2014, 2018 or both).

I bet if no one "throws their hat in the ring" soon the IOC will give it to them on that basis as it would make for publicity.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Checkered24 View Post
Some cities have faired better than others. Atlanta seemed to have some post Olympics plans in place, and converted the main stadium for use by the Braves. Others, such as Athens (and Greece really couldn't afford the 2004 games in the first place) has venues abandoned and in disrepair. A blight. Sochi never even got everything finished from a hotels/accomodations standpoint.
Athens is a unique case because of history. The IOC was almost ready to "default" the 1996 Games to them because of the 100th anniversary of the modern Games and the historic nature of Greece and the Olympics (where the first modern one was held as well). But it was obvious that they couldn't "handle" it yet and when they felt "ready" 8 years later, they still pretty much had the "inside track" as a "consolation". It was a "mistake" in my view, but that is why it happened.

If you see them doing another Games ever again, it will again be cause of "history" so I don't think it will happen until 2096.....

Quote:
Originally Posted by terinzak View Post
Salt Lake City have the games again? The Olympic Venues from the last time we held the Games are still in use today. It makes sense and I know Salt Lake wants the Games back. What do you think?
The IOC has a huge bias against Winter Games in the US because of two incidents:

1) Denver was awarded the Winter Games in 1976 and then the voters (sounds familiar?) voted to cancel their bid. Ironically it was then awarded to Vancouver/Whister where the same thing happened (but I guess time heals as they finally got in 2010), so the IOC finally begged Innsbruck, Austria (which held it 12 years before and had existing facilities) to hold it. The IOC gave the US a "2nd chance" in the next Winter Olympics, noting that Lake Placid, NY had great "existing facilities", so a bigger issue is:

2) The bribery scandal surrounding the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.

So if we ever see it in the US again it would probably be a repeat of Lake Placid.....

Last edited by 7 Wishes; 05-29-2014 at 08:02 AM..
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Old 05-29-2014, 08:04 AM
 
Location: Over yonder a piece
4,268 posts, read 6,274,599 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rzzz View Post
It seems like it would make more sense to just have the winter olympics in the same place every year. There are only so many places in the world with decent ski hills and consistent winter snow.
My father had a great idea very similar to that.

He proposed that all countries who participate in the Olympics should be offered "buy-in" to a single location for all winter Olympics - similar to a timeshare purchase. Each country would buy in based on the average % of athletes that participate (so a country that only sends 4 athletes would pay much less than a country that sends 240).

Upon buy-in, all athletes could come and go to train and prepare for the games. He mentioned letting them stay *for free* for up to 100 days in three years after the last games but NOT the year leading up to the next games (don't know why he specified that). The countries all pay additional annual dues (based on # of athletes from the previous games) to go toward upkeep and renovation of the area. During the years that the location is NOT holding the Olympics, it can continue to be a functional tourist destination for additional revenue.

He had a few more ideas, but that's the general gist of what he proposed. I thought it was a great idea when he mentioned it during the Sochi games a few months ago.
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Old 05-29-2014, 12:31 PM
 
Location: DC area
1,718 posts, read 2,421,000 times
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I'm not going to touch the politics angle since the Olympics are really supposed to be apolitical.

The main reason less and less places are vying for the Olympics is money. The games have become so dang expensive to host that more often than not the city/country loses money. For that reason, I think the Olympic committee needs to pull its head out of its rear and revamp their bidding system.

There is no reason whatsoever that 2 countries couldn't share hosting duties - and thereby halving the costs. Some of the events themselves are hosted as many as 3-4 hours away from the main Olympic venue. It's not that hard to find neighboring locations across borders that are well within that travel time.

They can call the change promoting the Olympic spirit and you'd instantly find a lot more places willing to make bids.

Of course, it would also help if they'd stop insisting on giving it to places without existing infrastructure in place but that's another topic.
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Old 06-21-2014, 12:20 PM
 
9 posts, read 10,793 times
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In my opinion people did not vote against the olympic games, but against the IOC.
In Munich the secret contracts which must be signed by the hoster became public, and this was it!

Some nice IOC demands:

All costs are payed by the hoster, all profit goes to IOC. Completely tax free! Not a penny tax payed by IOC!

All IOC representaives are exculded from any legal action in the hosting country. Meant of course for accepting bribes, it also means: a IOC representative who drives thru Munich drunken and to fast and kills someone, will *NOT* be charged in any way! IOC can only be asked to remove this person from Germany!

The area 1 km around all stadiums and the main ways there are property of IOC during the games. If, for example, a car manufacturer is IOC sponsor, IOC can remove or cover the advertisings of all other brands. Yes also on the private land of car dealers!

IOC has the right to allow or deny anyone the right to enter those 1 km zones for no reason. Yes, also people who work or live there!

How much more do you want?
I think this anwers the question why IOC and their perverted show does not fit into democratic or civilized countries anymore.
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Old 06-21-2014, 12:48 PM
 
10,719 posts, read 20,255,686 times
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It goes beyond politics. Hosting the olympic games is a well recognized money loser. This was not well publicized in the past, but is now being recognized as causing massive debt and economic losses. The host cities spend hundreds of millions of dollars to build facilities that will never be used again. The hosting cities receive very little gain. Most of the money is made by the IOC and television networks. The exposure and marketability doesn't bring jobs and other economic gains to the host cities like perceived.

Unless the city has hosted the olympics in the past and/or has existing facilities and hotels that can acomodate visitors, it's not worth it. I would never want my city to host the olympics and be exploited by the IOC. In a nutshell, your city will spend hundreds of millions to build facilities and clean-up while the IOC receives all revenues. Talk about a racket.
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