Has the IOC jumped the proverbial shark?

[-jk]

Oslo out...

Oslo is dropping out of bidding for the 2022 Winter Olympics, leaving Almaty, Kazakhstan and Beijing as the only remaining cities seeking to host the event. Why? One reason is that people are starting to realize that spending mega-money to build sporting venues that may not ever be used again doesn't make economic sense. Another is that the International Olympic Committee is a notoriously ridiculous organization run by grifters and hereditary aristocrats. Norwegian citizens were particularly amused/outraged (amuseraged) by the IOC's diva-like demands for luxury treatment during the hypothetical Games.

DC is gunning for the 2024 summer games. Maybe if they spin it into a new venue for the Washington NFL team (then no longer nicknamed "Redskins") and a new soccer stadium (which they really need), it'll work. Maybe. Maybe not...

-jk

[AncientPsychicT]

Almaty and Beijing are the last two options, huh? Well doesn't that throw the proverbial wrench in the IOC's stated policy of rotating continents as much as possible. For those who are wondering, the 2018 Winter Olympics are being held in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The 2020 Summer Olympics are being held in Tokyo. Now, the 2022 Winter Olympics will be the third straight Olympics, and second consecutive Winter Olympics, hosted by an Asian city. It would be especially bad publicity for the IOC if Beijing were to get the Olympics (which seems quite likely as Almaty and Kazakhstan don't necessarily have the best infrastructure), as the Olympics would consecutively be held in South Korea, then Japan, then China.

From my perspective, the Olympics (well at least the politics behind them) are steadily becoming an international joke. Sigh...

[YmoBeThere]

I thought they had jumped the shark when they added rhythmic gymnastics.

[brevity]

I thought they had jumped the shark when they added rhythmic gymnastics.

I thought they had jumped the shark when they added synchronized shark jumping.

[bjornolf]

Almaty and Beijing are the last two options, huh? Well doesn't that throw the proverbial wrench in the IOC's stated policy of rotating continents as much as possible. For those who are wondering, the 2018 Winter Olympics are being held in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The 2020 Summer Olympics are being held in Tokyo. Now, the 2022 Winter Olympics will be the third straight Olympics, and second consecutive Winter Olympics, hosted by an Asian city. It would be especially bad publicity for the IOC if Beijing were to get the Olympics (which seems quite likely as Almaty and Kazakhstan don't necessarily have the best infrastructure), as the Olympics would consecutively be held in South Korea, then Japan, then China.

From my perspective, the Olympics (well at least the politics behind them) are steadily becoming an international joke. Sigh...

Weren't they also very recently in China for the summer games?

[AncientPsychicT]

Weren't they also very recently in China for the summer games?

Yup, Beijing 2008. And Sochi 2014 was pretty close to Asia as well.

[chris13]

My guess is the countries the IOC has gone to are countries in which bribery and corruption are more culturally acceptable than in the US and Western Europe.

I sometimes think the NCAA is corrupt and venal, but I realize they are "amateurs" compared to the IOC and FIFA. I'm not sure who is worse out of the IOC and FIFA. I though FIFA had taken the lead with the awarding of the World Cup to Russia and Qatar but the IOC seems determined to reclaim the top spot.

[sagegrouse]

Almaty and Beijing are the last two options, huh? Well doesn't that throw the proverbial wrench in the IOC's stated policy of rotating continents as much as possible. For those who are wondering, the 2018 Winter Olympics are being held in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The 2020 Summer Olympics are being held in Tokyo. Now, the 2022 Winter Olympics will be the third straight Olympics, and second consecutive Winter Olympics, hosted by an Asian city. It would be especially bad publicity for the IOC if Beijing were to get the Olympics (which seems quite likely as Almaty and Kazakhstan don't necessarily have the best infrastructure), as the Olympics would consecutively be held in South Korea, then Japan, then China.

From my perspective, the Olympics (well at least the politics behind them) are steadily becoming an international joke. Sigh...

Moreover, Sochi in 2014 doesn't exactly offer a view of the Danube or the North Sea. It is east of most of Asian Turkey and, if counted as Europe, it is a very technical definition of Europe.

[Tom B.]

DC is gunning for the 2024 summer games.

Just when you thought NoVa traffic couldn't get any worse...

[devildeac]

Oslo out...


DC is gunning for the 2024 summer games. Maybe if they spin it into a new venue for the Washington NFL team (then no longer nicknamed "Redskins") and a new soccer stadium (which they really need), it'll work. Maybe. Maybe not...

-jk

Just when you thought NoVa traffic couldn't get any worse...

Atlanta/Cobb County would be another good choice, especially WRT traffic issues.

[gus]

(which seems quite likely as Almaty and Kazakhstan don't necessarily have the best infrastructure)

Too bad. Hosting might be the only way they can guarantee the right anthem is played.

[ricks68]

Atlanta/Cobb County would be another good choice, especially WRT traffic issues.

We went to the Olympics in 1996 in Atlanta when it had terrible traffic in those years, too. It was a breeze. We took Marta from where we were staying in Alpharetta, but changed to driving directly to the downtown venues and everywhere else. We could park right next to the venues for about 7 bucks a day!

How could that be, you ask???? Well, a heck of a lot of people just plain left town during that time for vacations out of fear of the gridlock that would occur, for one reason. Another reason was that a whole lot of people left town because they rented out their homes and apartments to people coming in to watch the games for absolutely outrageous prices. Thousands upon thousands did this. I've never seen Atlanta streets so empty. They even blocked off some main streets downtown for huge parties in the streets every night after the events, and traffic was still not bad.

I don't think that would happen again, however, but you never know.

ricks

[rasputin]

We went to the Olympics in 1996 in Atlanta when it had terrible traffic in those years, too. It was a breeze. We took Marta from where we were staying in Alpharetta, but changed to driving directly to the downtown venues and everywhere else. We could park right next to the venues for about 7 bucks a day!

How could that be, you ask???? Well, a heck of a lot of people just plain left town during that time for vacations out of fear of the gridlock that would occur, for one reason. Another reason was that a whole lot of people left town because they rented out their homes and apartments to people coming in to watch the games for absolutely outrageous prices. Thousands upon thousands did this. I've never seen Atlanta streets so empty. They even blocked off some main streets downtown for huge parties in the streets every night after the events, and traffic was still not bad.

I don't think that would happen again, however, but you never know.

ricks

In 1999, Pope John Paul II visited St. Louis and was to say Mass at the football stadium. My office then was a couple of blocks away from the stadium. The police and other city officials were warning people about the expected complete gridlock, etc., and urged people to not be on the streets. Many downtown offices closed. The result was the same as what ricks68 describes above.

[wilson]

Atlanta/Cobb County would be another good choice, especially WRT traffic issues.

Please don't pick that scab.

[YmoBeThere]

I would think you would spread out many of the venues for future games in the US, thus reducing the expense to a given city. Soccer(men's and women's) could be split between 4 or 8 cities, etc. Weren't the Atlanta Games handled this way?

[blazindw]

I would think you would spread out many of the venues for future games in the US, thus reducing the expense to a given city. Soccer(men's and women's) could be split between 4 or 8 cities, etc. Weren't the Atlanta Games handled this way?

Soccer is held across the host city's country where the Olympics are held. That's true at any Olympics. Some of the other events will take place outside the city as well. But, the majority of the events will take place within the host city.

[wilson]

I would think you would spread out many of the venues for future games in the US, thus reducing the expense to a given city. Soccer(men's and women's) could be split between 4 or 8 cities, etc. Weren't the Atlanta Games handled this way?

Not really. 1996 Olympic soccer was in Athens, about an hour from Atlanta, and whitewater rowing events were about two and a half hours' drive north. Everything else was in metro Atlanta.

[devildeac]

Please don't pick that scab.

Cynicism, pure and simple in response to -jk's and/or someone else's about an Olympic bid and NOVA traffic and comparing it to Atlanta's. Sorry.

[throatybeard]

I'm actually hoping that the Qatar mess results in WC 2022 in the USA, after relocation.

1) Climate idiocy, coupled with the inoperability of moving it to the winter, given the club season.

2) We have 31 NFL stadia a-rarin to go, and also a bunch of soccer-specific ones that didn't exist in 1994.

3) We still hold not only the per-game attendance record, but also the total attendance record, even though the 1994 WC had just 24 teams rather than 32, so there were way fewer matches.

Nobody's in better position for an emergency relocation, other than maybe Brazil or Germany.

[Tom B.]

Soccer is held across the host city's country where the Olympics are held. That's true at any Olympics. Some of the other events will take place outside the city as well. But, the majority of the events will take place within the host city.

And nowadays, the IOC wants the venues for the major, high-profile events (swimming, gymnastics, basketball, track & field, etc.) to be clustered together in an "Olympic Park" complex -- which means that even cities or regions with acceptable venues will likely have to build new ones, because their existing venues probably won't be bunched together.