London, Madrid, Moscow, NYC & Paris Make IOC Cut

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2004-05-18 07:33am

These cities have made it into the shortlist for the 2012 Olympics. Congrats to them so far, guess Rio is a little disappointed.

BoredShirtless · Post by **BoredShirtless** » 2004-05-18 07:39am

Paris? Good choice. Public transport in Paris kicks all types of ass.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2004-05-18 07:51am

BoredShirtless wrote:Paris? Good choice. Public transport in Paris kicks all types of ass.

Paris is the firm favourite with NYC and Moscow being the ones likely to lose out in the next cut.

Paris has a) the venues including the great Stade de France, b) the public transport, c) the security and also the fact that they hosted the football World Cup and have the experience.

The only problem with London is some security due to the widespread venues, but it's otherwise right behind Paris.

Madrid is unknown to me. I never heard much about them, but they have the biggest damn stadium I've ever seen.

Moscow has some way to go and it's an odd area.

NYC has fuck all for it other than attitude. With Canada hosting the winter games I believe, they're hard pressed. There's also the current political climate and the fact that they have jack all in the way of venues, hence the $5bn facility being proposed. They may have the great multi-ethnic vibe, but they need to deliver on the key points along with Moscow.

I predict Paris myself, but it's all to play for now.

If you're wondering, Rio lost out as the first South American venue for the games because of poor security and lack of proper development for the venues.

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2004-05-18 10:31am

i actually hope that New York doesn't get the olympics. what a mess that would be. NYC is just too damn big and the infastructure anD security measures just barely accomodate its millions of residents and the ten million more who commute there for work each day. Toss in the international clusterfuck that is an Olympics and the place will choke to death for weeks, nevermind the mess it would create in the prep stages.

lgot · Post by **lgot** » 2004-05-19 02:27am

Code: Select all

If you're wondering, Rio lost out as the first South American venue for the games because of poor security and lack of proper development for the venues.

The main reasons for the lack of proper development are the lack of hotels structure and transport. While the security problem is really big in Rio, most analists are agreeing that was a secundary factor. (the hotel and transport the main).
But the defeat of Rio was somehow expected - the bid is a development in progress of Brazilian Olympic Comite - the first attempt was ridiculous, now the planning was saw as very good. They are, in the very spirit of the game, learning with experience in the defeats. In 2007 Rio will host Pan-American games and they will bid for 2016, and the decision will be after 2007, so they hope to having more experience and a prof that they can handle it to have better luck and also the "they lost once, lets give them a chance" mentality to help, so they will keep the bidding.

Post by **Vympel** » 2004-05-19 03:42am

Has NYC even got room to host the Olympics in a tasteful manner?

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2004-05-19 10:56am

Vympel wrote:Has NYC even got room to host the Olympics in a tasteful manner?

No.

MOSCOW MOSCOW MOSCOW

We need more Stalinist era building programmes!

LordShaithis · Post by **LordShaithis** » 2004-05-19 12:47pm

Who gives a damn about the Olympics? Most of the sports are running/swimming/jumping shit nobody cares about the rest of the time, and the system is a horribly corrupt international bureaucracy.

"Paraguay has won the decathalon!"

Oh wow. Who gives a shit? I'll probably check online to see which boxers won medals, and whether they're being signed by a promoter, and other than that the Olympics won't exist to me.

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2004-05-19 01:03pm

Vympel wrote:Has NYC even got room to host the Olympics in a tasteful manner?

Yes and no. New York DOES have lots of open land, but it's either A) parkland, B) old industrial sites that would need extensive redevelopment, or C) out on the ass end of Staten Island, well away from Manhattan. And that's just for the venues. The real problem is transport. Four of the five boroughs are on islands and there's a limited number of crossings available, and those are already approaching saturation with just regular workday traffic. The Manhattan street grid can't handle the load it has now, and there's no way to upgrade it without demolishing thousands of buildings. Ditto the highways. I can't comment on the state of the public transit system, but I don't imagine it can easily absorb the load from millions of additional tourists.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2004-05-19 01:09pm

MKSheppard wrote:
No.

MOSCOW MOSCOW MOSCOW

We need more Stalinist era building programmes!

Well the Russian Army built the facilities for the 1980 games.

Graeme Dice · Post by **Graeme Dice** » 2004-05-19 05:09pm

GrandAdmiralPrawn wrote:Who gives a damn about the Olympics? Most of the sports are running/swimming/jumping shit nobody cares about the rest of the time, and the system is a horribly corrupt international bureaucracy.

It's nice to see that an ignorant person such as yourself is capable of deciding what the rest of the world is interested in based on no evidence whatsoever.

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2004-05-19 05:15pm

GrandAdmiralPrawn wrote:Who gives a damn about the Olympics? Most of the sports are running/swimming/jumping shit nobody cares about the rest of the time, and the system is a horribly corrupt international bureaucracy.

Note for GAP: You are not everyone.

LordShaithis · Post by **LordShaithis** » 2004-05-19 07:50pm

Quick, when's the last time you grabbed some pretzels and a beer, and sat down to watch a good decathalon?

Post by **fgalkin** » 2004-05-19 07:54pm

During the last Olympics, duh. Minus the pretzels and beer part, that is.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

Graeme Dice · Post by **Graeme Dice** » 2004-05-19 08:20pm

GrandAdmiralPrawn wrote:Quick, when's the last time you grabbed some pretzels and a beer, and sat down to watch a good decathalon?

Let's see, the last time I went to a track meet was the final one of the indoor season here, so that would be about the middle of February. I'm just waiting for the outdoor season to start now.

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2004-05-20 07:31am

Howedar wrote:
GrandAdmiralPrawn wrote:Who gives a damn about the Olympics? Most of the sports are running/swimming/jumping shit nobody cares about the rest of the time, and the system is a horribly corrupt international bureaucracy.
Note for GAP: You are not everyone.

have you watched NBC's Olympic coverage in the past games? Have you seen Bob Costas drone on and on? Have you seen the goddamn 'heartwarming' mini-documentaries about some half retarded farmboy from mooseshit jucntion, Idaho who overcame adversity to follow his dreams of olympic glory? Gag me with a fucking dead rat. Do you actually enjoy watching people ride bikes in circles? or run in circles? or swim back and forth? of jump off a platform into water? Shit, and you thought Baseball and Cricket were fucking boring, at least they do more than run round in circles. Sure, the basketball is pretty good, and in the winter olympics the hockey is fantastic, but thats it. the rest is just a waste. As far as international sports go, wake me up for the world cup.

Post by **Vympel** » 2004-05-20 07:35am

I agree with Crackpot. I cannot comprehend the Olympics being interesting for anyone except the people competing for the medals.

World Cup Soccer is indeed the only time I'm EVER interested in sport.

LordShaithis · Post by **LordShaithis** » 2004-05-20 01:53pm

Sure, the basketball is pretty good, and in the winter olympics the hockey is fantastic, but thats it. the rest is just a waste.

Yeah, there ARE a few sports in the Olympics that people actually give a damn about. Not coincidentally, they're also the sports you see on television more than twice a decade.

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2004-05-20 02:38pm

GrandAdmiralPrawn wrote:
Sure, the basketball is pretty good, and in the winter olympics the hockey is fantastic, but thats it. the rest is just a waste.
Yeah, there ARE a few sports in the Olympics that people actually give a damn about. Not coincidentally, they're also the sports you see on television more than twice a decade.

what? you mean to tell me that there is no demand for rythmic gymnastics or watching some guy throw an iron ball 20 meters? say it ain't so!