Will Atlanta ever see the olympics again? (Stone Mountain: 2014, house)

[ElleKaye]

Given that a bomb went off the last time, I'd say no time soon. ,What are the rules and regulations? I mean aside from Athens, has it been in another city more that once?

[sf2k4]

Hosting more than one Olympic games is a pretty exclusive club. Only L.A. and Lake Placid in the U.S. are members.

[Adric]

Count me in the nay crowd. The bomb going off kind of put a sour taste in the IOC's mouth for Atlanta. I recall reading that the head of the IOC didn't say his usual "the best games yet" at the end of our Olympics and instead said "another great year". That was his polite way of saying "You f'ed up Atlanta."

I would love for it to happen though! It would give the city and state leaders a much-needed kick in the rear on improving various aspects in the city such as transit, panhandling, etc.

[ATLTJL]

I'm sure it's well documented in other sources, but among the things that I remember people complaining about:

ACOG totally fibbed about temperatures, averaging daily highs and lows to calculate an "average." I think they sold Atlanta as having an average temperature of like 79 degrees during July. Lots of people were surprised at how unbearable the heat was when they got here, and I remember it being a big deal that ACOG wasn't completely forthright about Atlanta weather.

People were horrified by how commercial the Olympics were. All the way from Whatzit to unlicensed vendors hawking crappy merchandise and price gouging everywhere, Atlanta came off as being super eager to take the Olympics and its visitors for every penny they had.

The Olympic Village was too spread out. I don't know how this works in other Olympic cities, but I remember a lot of people complaining about how far the venues were from each other and from lodging.

In a great twist of irony, Atlanta is now much better equipped to handle an event like the Olympics than it was in 1996. I guess that probably happens in a lot of Olympic cities. I think if we hosted it again, we'd do much better.

I don't think we'll ever get the chance. At least, not in my lifetime. Maybe in 2096 for the 100th anniversary, or something like that. Definitely not until all the IOC people who remember Atlanta are long dead and gone.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by MattCW

Not without seriously upgrading the transit infrastructure Atlanta won't.

^^^^THIS....I totally agree with this.I think that there could be some potential for Atlanta to host the Olympics again, but there would have to be an overwhelming amount of changes (changes for the better) when it comes to how this town, region and state manages its transportation infrastructure.As MattCW pointed out, Atlanta would have to make some seriously massive upgrades to its TRANSIT infrastructure to even be under consideration for another Olympic games.Atlanta can also improve upon its reputation as an international city and improve its chances of hosting a future Olympic games by bidding on and (flawlessly) hosting major sporting events of international significance like: ...Men's and Women's FIBA Basketball World Cup events;...The Pan Am Games;...The World Baseball Classic;...FIFA World Cup Soccer events (if/when the U.S. wins a bid to host again);...FIFA Women's World Cup Soccer events;...FIFA Club World Cup Soccer events;...Men's and Women's Rugby World Cup events;...Men's and Women's Cricket World Cup events;...A resurrected Goodwill Games (which Atlanta was the corporate headquarters of); ...And so on...If Atlanta can retain its reputation of hosting major sporting events of national significance (NCAA Final Fours, College Football events, Super Bowls, etc), and build a reputation of FLAWLESSLY hosting major sporting events of international significance like those listed above while dramatically-upgrading and vastly-improving its transit infrastructure to much better reflect the city's status as a rising international city, Atlanta can put itself in position to be under serious consideration to host another Summer Olympic Games.But it is extremely-important that the city build a resume of flawlessly and expertly hosting very high-profile events (sporting and otherwise) of national and international significance so that Atlanta can once again be taken seriously as a rising international city...something which currently may not necessarily be the case with the city and metro region's severely-lagging transit infrastructure.

[bryantm3]

the question is "should"? i answered yes, but not because i think it needs to happen anytime soon. i think maybe in ~30-40 years it might be a good idea, but not now, it's just too soon.

[gerrythesnake]

People talking about transit when Marta has more riders than LA subway system.


Like I said what other cities have a train that runs from the airport into downtown, has as many hotels rooms as we do, is more accessible via the airport, what metro area will be accessible to the largest outdoor sports practice fields in the world?

[Gulch]

I voted yes because the poll question reads "SHOULD Atlanta see the Olympics again?"

Would it actually happen? Maybe, but probably not in our lifetimes (basically means the earliest we could host it again would be 2072).

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

I'm sure it's well documented in other sources, but among the things that I remember people complaining about:

ACOG totally fibbed about temperatures, averaging daily highs and lows to calculate an "average." I think they sold Atlanta as having an average temperature of like 79 degrees during July. Lots of people were surprised at how unbearable the heat was when they got here, and I remember it being a big deal that ACOG wasn't completely forthright about Atlanta weather.

Wouldn't be the worst thing a bid city lied about.

People were horrified by how commercial the Olympics were. All the way from
Whatzit to unlicensed vendors hawking crappy merchandise and price gouging
everywhere, Atlanta came off as being super eager to take the Olympics and its
visitors for every penny they had.

Thank you Bill Campbell and Munson Steed.

The Olympic Village was too spread out. I don't know how this works in other
Olympic cities, but I remember a lot of people complaining about how far the
venues were from each other and from lodging.

The entire village was at Georgia Tech, so I don't think there was an issue with transporting the athletes. I know the press complained about transportation problems with their rides but overall we did pretty good in that department.

In a great twist of irony, Atlanta is now much better equipped to handle an event like the Olympics than it was in 1996. I guess that probably happens in a lot of Olympic cities. I think if we hosted it again, we'd do much better.

I don't think we'll ever get the chance. At least, not in my lifetime. Maybe in 2096 for the 100th anniversary, or something like that. Definitely not until all the IOC people who remember Atlanta are long dead and gone.

Agreed. I'd love to see Atlanta host it again, but since it's not likely anytime soon, I also think it would be cool to let other U.S. cities get a crack at it (D.C. and NYC especially).

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by ElleKaye

Given that a bomb went off the last time, I'd say no time soon. ,What are the rules and regulations? I mean aside from Athens, has it been in another city more that once?

Summer Games:
Athens (1896, 2004)
Paris (1900, 1924)
London (1908, 1948, 2012)
Los Angeles (1932, 1984)
Tokyo (1964, will host in 2020)

Winter Games:
St. Moritz, Switzerland (1928, 1948)
Lake Placid, NY (1932, 1980)
Innsbruck, Austria (1964, 1976)