Seriously, Nobody Wants To Host The 2022 Olympics

[rhoenix]

This to me is more amusing because of the IOC shooting itself in the foot with their demands (and how bad it makes them look from the outside), similar to how we saw FIFA do so during the World Cup recently.

Norway's ruling party just voted against funding Oslo's 2022 Winter Olympics bid, essentially forcing the city to drop out of the race. It's just the latest in a long series of cities and countries who have given an emphatic "no" to hosting the Olympic quagmire.

In a non-binding referendum in February, 55.9 percent of Norwegians said they didn't want the Games. "There must be major changes in the IOC before I can help to support an Olympic application," said Tromsø Mayor Jens Johan Hjort.

Stoking some of that anger was the IOC's list of demands for an Oslo bid, which included a cocktail reception with Norway's king, with the tab on either the royal family or the Norwegian Olympic Committee. Among the IOC's other demands:

• Cars and drivers for IOC members, with special dedicated highway lanes
• Street lights synchronized to prioritize IOC traffic
• Separate airport entrance for IOC members
• Hotel mini-bars must have only Coca-Cola products
• Samsung phones for all IOC members
• All meeting rooms must be kept at exactly 68 degrees.
• All furniture must have "Olympic appearance."
• "IOC members will be received with a smile on arrival at hotel"

Oslo joins a decorated list of municipalities that have declined to pursue Olympic bids, or dropped out of the running after residents voted against it. Invariably, each blamed the rising cost and invisible benefits of hosting the Olympics. Among those who withdrew are Krakow, Poland; Stockholm, Sweden; Munich, Germany; Davos/St. Moritz, Switzerland; and Lviv, Ukraine, which dropped out just before the IOC selected three finalists (the only three cities remaining).

With Oslo out, it's down to Beijing, China, and Almaty, Kazakhstan. The vote will be held on July 31, 2015, assuming one or both candidate cities don't drop out before then.

Heh.

A previous article:

The next Olympics to be awarded, a little more than a year from now, will be the 2022 Winter Games. Rather than going to the strongest bid, the games may end up going to the last city standing—a long list of potential hosts have given up on their Olympic dreams because the whole thing is one huge, useless waste of money.

Yesterday, Krakow, Poland, officially withdrew its bid for the games, a day after a citywide referendum where 70 percent of voters came out against hosting the Olympics. "Krakow is closing its efforts to be the host of the 2022 Winter Games due to the low support for the idea among the residents," said mayor Jacek Majchrowski.

In January, another of the six original finalists pulled out, when Stockholm, Sweden's ruling political party declined to fund the games. They cited the pointlessness of paying hundreds of millions for facilities that would be used for two weeks and then rarely again, a story common to almost all Olympic hosts. "Arranging a Winter Olympics would mean a big investment in new sports facilities, for example for the bobsleigh and luge," the Moderate party said in a statement. "There isn't any need for that type of that kind of facility after an Olympics."

In November, voters in Munich, Germany, rejected a proposed Olympic bid. "The vote is not a signal against the sport," said one lawmaker, "but against the non-transparency and the greed for profit of the IOC."

Last March, a joint bid from Davos/St. Moritz, Switzerland, fell apart after being rejected by a public referendum.

Of the four remaining finalists, two are in rough shape. The Oslo, Norway, bid is falling apart. It was supported by a razor-thin margin in a September referendum, but public opposition has only grown since then. And on Sunday, the junior member of the government coalition voted against funding any Olympics. For them to go on, it would require an unprecedented alliance between the ruling Conservatives and the opposition Labour party.

The Lviv, Ukraine, bid seems dead in the water with the turmoil and war in the country. "Currently our dream is on hold," said the bid's chief.

There are only two healthy bids: Almaty, Kazakhstan, and Beijing, China. One's an oil-rich state ruled by a president-for-life, and the other's, well, China. That's no coincidence. With the Sochi games raising the bar to an absurd $51 billion, hosting the Olympics no longer looks like a winning proposition. The failed and aborted 2022 candidacies all have one thing in common: When actual citizens are allowed to have a say, they say they don't want the Olympics.

So - it appears that the two remaining candidates are Kazakhstan and China to host the 2022 Olympics.

[Lys]

Outside the Baltics, Kazakhstan is one of the better post-Soviet republics, and Nursultan Nazarbayev is pretty decent as far as post-Soviet oligarchs go. I rate him higher than Putin, Lukashenko, or any of the other Central Asian leaders. I seem to recall having mentioned Lukashenko as a better option than Yeltsin for Russia, but actually Nazarbayev would have been far better than either of them. Much less an asshole than Lukashenko, much more competent than that drunk sot Yeltsin, and a masterful political triangulator. Still, Khazakstan is nevertheless an corrupt oligarchy with a president for life, let's not mistake here my staying that it's better than some of its neighbours as saying that it's good. Nevertheless, I would be inclined to award it the bid because China's already had its time, but honestly the Chinese seem to have way more money to spare, and there's a nice symmetry to giving them both summer and winter olympics. God knows the United States has had more than its fair share of both.

[frigidmagi]

More competent then Yeltsin isn't that high a bar to clear it seems. Seriously was he ever sober while serving as President of Russia?

I got to admit from my view point it would seem the biggest problem is IOC, which like a lot of international bodies seems to be getting a reputation as a highly corrupt and increasingly entitled organization.

[LadyTevar]

I think we should look into doing what the Ancient Greeks did to begin with: One Dedicated Site.

Yes, I know that means that Winter and Summer can't be held in the same place. Yes, I know this means that each country loses out on the 'privilege' of hosting. But as the article bluntly states, you build a stadium that is used for 2 weeks, and then it's an unused eyesore for the next 50yrs.

Hell, with Earth's rotational tilt, you can have the Summer and the Winter Games all in a month! Select a Northern Hemisphere for one, and a Southern Hemisphere for the other! Hell, have a site for each on each Hemisphere, and then you have the option to flip every 4 years. There's Africa for the Southern Summer Games, and New Zealand for the Winter. Set up somewhere in the Balkans for Summer in the North, and Canada for the Winter.

But that is my Two Bits, worthy only of discussion and ridicule.

[Steve]

The issue then is who would get those sites, since it thus becomes a guaranteed money-maker and prestige event.

The better solution is that the IOC has to be radically reformed and scale back its ambitions to being an international brand with corporate sponsorships and such (see that ridiculous bit about Samsung phones and Coca-Cola drinks only).