Predict the winner of 2016 Olympics Bids

[canoner]

supossedly beijing was going to set a new record on revenue for the olympics, but i don't know it that is for the olympic comitee or for the city.

probably not $50 billion though, so i'm guessing they didn't break even

would Rio have any transportation problems? or is it just crime their worried about

you cannot measure profit by revenue only. infrastructure building, such as subway and roads, is not only for the olympic game. Sports venues also have residue value because they will continue to be used.

That is why it makes more sense for cities like Beijing and Rio to hold games, because their investments won't be for the olympic games only.

[dougthonus]

I want it to be Chicago, because how many opportunities will you have to actually see the Olympics live in person?

Once every four years. It'd be even more exciting to travel and see it. The one thing that'd be nice about the Olympics being in Chicago is that I'd have a good chance of getting media access to the basketball if my life continues in the direction it presently is. My dad would also stand a chance of judging again (he judged in Atlanta and would have gotten me free tickets if I could have made it down) which might get me some free tickets.

[MAQ]

supossedly beijing was going to set a new record on revenue for the olympics, but i don't know it that is for the olympic comitee or for the city.

probably not $50 billion though, so i'm guessing they didn't break even

would Rio have any transportation problems? or is it just crime their worried about

you cannot measure profit by revenue only. infrastructure building, such as subway and roads, is not only for the olympic game. Sports venues also have residue value because they will continue to be used.

That is why it makes more sense for cities like Beijing and Rio to hold games, because their investments won't be for the olympic games only.

you just said yourself that venues will be reused...chicago will be building venues for the events...

granted adding trains and subways is a much bigger investment into the city...but it's not like chicago is just going to do nothing for the olympics

also...the more stuff you have to build the more money it cost...maybe it'd work for china (it did) seeing as how the government controls all of the money there anyway, but rio? do they have the money to shell out like china? if not why not chicago where most of the things needed (transportation and venues) are already in place?

[The Duke]

Olympics in the states mean that ALOT of Corporate Buyers will be first in line to get seats to the best events.

[BlackMamba]

I want it to be Chicago, because how many opportunities will you have to actually see the Olympics live in person?

Once every four years. It'd be even more exciting to travel and see it. The one thing that'd be nice about the Olympics being in Chicago is that I'd have a good chance of getting media access to the basketball if my life continues in the direction it presently is. My dad would also stand a chance of judging again (he judged in Atlanta and would have gotten me free tickets if I could have made it down) which might get me some free tickets.

wow, thats nice. at what event did your father judged?

[dougthonus]

wow, thats nice. at what event did your father judged?

I'm not sure what they term the events at the Olympics, but he judges white water boating. Either kyacking or C1s.

At one point, my dad was judging a qualifying tournament I think for the world championships of white water (or maybe it was just the world championships, but there were basically no fans or media whatsoever, so I'm assuming it was a qualifying tournament), and my brother and I just had to hang out all day and watch white water boating which isn't really all that thrilling if you aren't into it.

So we got a couple of T-shirts and just hung out by the exit and got autographs on the shirt for every boater that came out. Probably 60% of the people didn't speak English, but you give them a shirt and a sharpie and they got the picture. Only one guy dissed us the whole day. Of course, we had no idea who the hell anyone was, but apparently basically everyone who was in the Olympics in Atlanta had signed both shirts (except 1 guy I suppose) which made for a pretty cool souvenir. Which, of course, I lost within 2 years and no longer have though it's possible it's still in a box somewhere in my house.

I'm 32 now, so I was probably ~16 or so when I was there and didn't really appreciate what a kind of cool thing that was. Not so great as if it was hanging out at the Olympic basketball trials and getting superstar autographs, but a neat thing to have. He sent me probably a dozen random autographed souvenirs from gold medalists and silver medalists from the Atlanta games all of which I also lost, but again they were all boaters and not major sports guys.

I hadn't really considered it until just now, but that's kind of scary that the judges can go and talk to the athletes to get autographs. I mean, I guess he knew most of the guys well enough anyway from being involved in the sport, but still kind of shows how open to bias different things are. Though his job was just to tell if a guy made it through a gate or didn't make it through a gate, so it didn't really have any subjective scores to it.

[BlackMamba]

well, thats pretty cool, really. it's also not a sport that i'm into or even close, but i've always liked the idea of being part of an event like this or to be part of a pro sporting event, tournament, etc.

[The Duke]

I'd volunteer for basically anything if the olympics ever came to Toronto in the next quater century.... sure i'd like events like the opening/closing ceremonies, swimming, track, bball... but anything would be fine

[Ed_M]

I am from Rio and I was not expecting to see such strong support here on this topic.

When the finalists were announced, the IOC also released the grades that each city got on their evaluation report that contais 11 itens: political and social support, general infrastructure, sports venues, Olympic Village, environment, accommodation, transport, security, past experience, finance, and legacy.

Tokyo got the biggest average with 8.3, Madrid was second with 8.1, Chicago third with 7.0 and Rio de Janeiro fourth with 6.4. That makes things very hard for Rio, even though those scores are not crucial. London was third in this ranking , but won the right to host the 2012 games, beating Paris by a small margin of votes. When the finalists were announced, Paris got 8.5 , Madrid got 8.3 , London got 7.6 and New York got 7.5.

I can say that the city needs to improve in A LOT of areas if its serious about hosting the games. Transportation is a joke and violence is always a huge problem. We do have the capacity to host big events and make some temporary adjustments do "hide" our problems, but I don't think that the IOC would gamble when the other cities are clearly better prepared for 2016.

The only thing that made us reach the final four was the fact that we hosted the Pan-American games last year and overall it went well, altough I know about some serious flaws that happened during the games. We're also getting experience by hosting minor international events, like the Judo World Championship last year. As someone mentioned before, the 2014 World Cup will be in Brazil (several cities involved) , with Rio being the city with the final match. That might help a bit, but the olympics are way more complex than a handfull of football games.

I really see us as nothing more than an improbable dark horse. Tokyo and Madrid are already in great shape and Chicago should receive a big boost if their senator Obama becomes the US president and they have the "Beijing 2008"/"London 2012" thing going in their favor against the asian and european adversaries.

From the geographic and historical point of view, it would be logical to give the nod to the south american city of Rio de Janeiro but I will be really really surprised if it happens.

[dougthonus]

well, thats pretty cool, really. it's also not a sport that i'm into or even close

I don't think you're alone there. I don't know anyone who's into white water boating. I wouldn't even know they had white water boating at the Olympics if my dad didn't judge it since I've never seen Olympic coverage of it. For that matter, I'm not sure if they even still do carry it as an Olympic event. I know they have paddling events, but that's different from white water boating.

[LLJ]

China has a lot of poverty too.

.

Every country has big pockets of poverty. The U.S. has tons of class imbalances from state to state but you rarely hear it reported because it's not something the North American media likes to shout out. That's why they usually only hold these Olympic things in the more commercial/capital cities.

If Rio can't get it done because of their finances and infrastructure, I go for Tokyo. It seems like we always have an Olympics in America every 12 years or so--that's too often for my tastes. I remember Atlanta like it was yesterday.

[Posey H8er]

Some of Chicago's proposed venues-

Douglas Park BMX track


Marathon start at Buckingham Fountain


Olympic and Paralympic Village Plaza




Olympic Aquatics Center


Olympic Island


Olympic Stadium and Olympic Aquatics Center

[Posey H8er]

100 days until the decision is made in Copenhagen.

[Slava]

I really hope Chicago gets it.

[Jakespeare]

I hope it's Chi City

[SportsWorld]

Chicago's bid is fantastic. I don't think it's going to win though. I would be thrilled if it did win.

[5DOM]

If Chicago wins the bid, will MJ be the last bearer of the torch?

[Posey H8er]

It seems the IOC is leaning towards Rio because the games have never been in South America.

The problems with Chicago's bid is the transportation system and some financial concerns. Metra is really outdated and the El doesn't go to the lakefront where most of the events are located. If Chicago gets the games the federal governent will provide stimulus money to modernize this.

If Obama goes to Copenhagen on October 2nd then I think Chicago wins the games. Many people credit London winning because Tony Blair was at the final voting conference when Paris was the big favorite. Obama is a much bigger global figure than Blair and still viewed positively for the most part.

[SportsWorld]

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009 ... mpics.html

The report also may have enhanced Rio's chances by politely calling the city's high violent crime rate ``public safety challenges'' and praising Rio for a ``new approach with regard to local policing'' that is ``already showing positive results.''

Way to completely turn a blind eye to a serious problem It really looks like they are just setting it up for Rio to win.

I also heard they are questioning Chicago because it might be too windy for some of the events that will take place. Way to do your research and base that off a nickname.

"There are windier places," said Bill Wilson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Romeoville. Average wind speeds in August are higher in Fargo, San Francisco, Honolulu, Boston and New York City.

And the National Climatic Data Center shows Chicago's August winds are about the same on average as winds in Los Angeles and Atlanta, which hosted the 1984 and 1996 Summer Olympics, respectively

.

[Posey H8er]

Good review of the IOC report-

http://chicago2016supporters.wordpress. ... in-points/