Next Olympics news thread

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The IOC has selected Chicago, Tokyo, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro as finalists to bid for the 2016 Olympic games.

Three cities were eliminated: Prague; Doha, Qatar; and Baku, Azerbaijan.

The final selection will be made Oct. 2, 2009, by secret ballot in Copenhagen.

IOC picks Chicago among 4 finalists for 2016 Summer Olympics (http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gCXx3AcQIf0F9QkvGABKYylcGhpAD913GEG00) - Associated Press

[unclesox]

East Asia eight years after Beijing?

Europe hosting back to back?

Let South America have the Games for once. :cool:

[code1390]

East Asia eight years after Beijing?

Europe hosting back to back?

Let South America have the Games for once. :cool:

Plus Athens in 04. No way Europe gets 3 out of 4.

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Chicago Has Shoulders Broad Enough to Host Games (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/14/sports/olympics/14vecsey.html?ref=olympics) - N.Y. Times

Three years after New York fizzled out in its Olympic bid for 2012, Chicago is in contention to host the Summer Games of 2016.

Mayor Richard M. Daley is a sanguine-enough politician to know that his city will not help itself by trying to emulate Beijing’s magnificent new arenas and subways and hotels, or its supply of energetic young workers, or the spectacular opening ceremony. That way lies madness, or at least frustration.

The Chicago delegation was here the past week observing as Beijing held its first Olympic Games. Chicago has also never been a host.

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Mayor Pushes Skeptical Birmingham to Dream on an Olympic Scale (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/24/sports/olympics/24birmingham.html?ref=olympics) - New York Times

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — In his first year as Birmingham’s mayor, Larry P. Langford has proposed a $500 million domed stadium, a $125 million law enforcement complex and a $33 million trolley car network. But those ideas were dwarfed by Mr. Langford’s proclamation this month: He wants the Olympics...

With 230,000 people, Birmingham is far smaller than most of the cities that have played host to the Summer Olympics. It lacks sufficient hotel space, transportation options and athletic facilities, as the mayor concedes. And Atlanta, the last American city to host the Summer Games, in 1996, is only 145 miles away...

The response has alternated between laughter and frustration. Roads are deteriorating in the city. The murder rate is rising. And the county that Birmingham is part of, Jefferson, where Mr. Langford was the president of the County Commission until 2007, is on the brink of what could be the largest municipal bankruptcy in American history.

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Chicago Hopes Vote Will Help Games Bid (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/06/sports/olympics/06olympics.html?scp=2&sq=olympics&st=cse) - N.Y. Times

As the world’s spotlight fell on President-elect Barack Obama on Tuesday, officials from Chicago’s bid to host the 2016 Olympics knew exactly what was at hand: the best free advertisement they could dream of.

Not only does Obama call Chicago his hometown, but he also gave his acceptance speech for the presidency Tuesday in Grant Park, a swath of land within walking distance of 19 proposed Olympic competition sites. More than 100,000 people flooded onto that lawn to see Obama, with the city’s skyline a backdrop...

Chicago is competing against three cites — Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo — to host the Summer Olympics eight years from now. The winner will be chosen by the International Olympic Committee on Oct. 2, 2009, in Denmark. Ryan said he hoped Obama would attend that meeting to give Chicago’s bid a final push. Obama could also meet I.O.C. members this spring, when an evaluation committee examines Chicago’s layout and plans for the Olympics.

Officials from at least one other candidate city shuddered after Obama’s victory. Several executives from Tokyo’s bid are worried that the charismatic Obama may give Chicago an advantage.

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MLB Could Send Stars to Olympics (http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081114&content_id=3680628&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb) - MLB

LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND - Baseball officials gave members of the International Olympic Committee assurances on Friday that an effort will be made to send some of the game's best professional players if it is reinstated for the 2016 Summer Olympics as a gold medal sport...

Officials from Major League Baseball and the International Baseball Federation in attendance said that everyone would pull together to make it happen. No decision about baseball's status was determined at the session and won't be until a vote on Oct. 2, 2009, at the IOC Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The selection of the 2016 venue will also be announced during that meeting of the IOC Congress. Chicago, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro and Madrid are the four finalists, and all are prepared to incorporate baseball in their programs.

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As Olympics Loom, Sochi Hurries to Be Ready (http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/travel/16NextStop.html?scp=5&sq=olympics&st=cse) - N.Y. Times

In July 2007, Sochi, a Russian resort on the Black Sea, was awarded the 2014 Winter Olympics, and in the year since, bureaucrats and investors have flocked to the city. Sochi has long been a favorite recreation spot of Vladimir V. Putin, Russia’s prime minister, and his promise to invest $12 billion of government money in developing the region played a large role in bringing the Winter Games to a faded Soviet-era beach town.

On top of the mountain, Mr. Makarenko showed me Mr. Putin’s favorite trail. In April, the prime minister came to visit the newly opened ski resort. “He skied there,” Mr. Makarenko said, pointing to a slope of dirt and unkempt grass. “And there, there too, and there, also there. I was tired, I couldn’t keep up,” he said. “What a tempo!”

Mr. Putin’s frenetic pace on the slopes is matched, if not surpassed, by the hurried schedule of development along the waterfront. The goal, Russian government officials insist, is not only to ready Sochi for the Olympics, but to transform the town into a Mediterranean-style tourist resort as well. A new international airport will open soon, and along the water, glass-fronted condominiums are popping up daily. As one local restaurant manager told me, “The government wants to turn Sochi into its own little Monaco.”

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Olympians Call for Shoestring Games (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/olympics/london_2012/article5258153.ece) - Times Online UK

When London last hosted the Olympics a dog track at Wembley stadium was converted for athletes, while competitors housed in military barracks had to supply their own kit.

The "Austerity Games" of 1948 were a huge success. Sixty years later, with Britain gripped by recession, the organisers of the London 2012 Olympics are under pressure to rein in the soaring £9.3 billion budget by cutting out extravagant facilities and making use of existing venues. Staging the Games will cost a further £2 billion.

It follows calls by MPs and athletes, including survivors of 1948, for the Corinthian spirit of the Games to be restored. They are demanding the scrapping of lavish ceremonies and an end to the perks enjoyed by Olympic officials, such as the use of more than 3,000 chauffeur driven cars.

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http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/01/23/sports/othersports/ski.600.jpg

Feisty Version of Ski Racing Elbows Into Mainstream (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/24/sports/othersports/24cross.html?scp=2&sq=skiing&st=cse) - N.Y. Times

WILMINGTON, N.Y. — The edgy appeal of ski racing has not changed in 100 years. There is the ageless thirst for speed, the enduring dance with danger and the zeal to be first to the bottom of a mountain. But what’s an edgy sport to do when its history and tradition are seen as so, well, outdated?

In an appeal to a younger generation, ski racing has taken all its natural, alluring elements and modernized them with tricked-up ramps, supersize jumps and scary turns, then packaged the whole thing into a made-for-TV format that promises mishaps, calamity and confrontation worthy of a reality show.

Behold the event of ski cross, or roller derby on skis, in which four to six racers simultaneously dash through a snowy version of a carnival fun house — with banked turns, bumpy surfaces and soaring leaps — all while elbowing and pushing their way to the finish line. Last racer standing, or limping on one leg, wins. Once a novelty of competitions like this week’s X Games in Aspen, Colo., ski cross next year receives the ultimate sporting sanction as a new sport for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia.

[bhk262]

how fast do the lugers go?

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Olympic Leaders Lash Out at U.S.O.C. Revenue Deal (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/sports/olympics/26olympic.html?ref=sports) - N.Y. Times

Pressure on the United States Olympic Committee to renegotiate its existing revenue-sharing agreement with the International Olympic Committee rose to another level when an angry group of Olympic leaders voted to terminate the contract and renegotiate a new one.

The Association of Summer Olympic International Federations passed a non-binding resolution on Tuesday to end the U.S.O.C.’s current open-ended contract. That agreement gives the United States 20% of the I.O.C.’s global sponsorship revenue — the same amount as all the other Olympic committees, combined — and 12.75% of the television revenue...

The U.S.O.C., however, has emphasized that the United States generates a big chunk of the I.O.C. revenues and that U.S.-based companies provide most of the sponsorship money. The United States television contract is also far more lucrative than in any other country. To televise last year’s Beijing Games, NBC paid about $894 million. The European Broadcasting Union paid about $443.5 million. Chinese television networks paid about $7 million.

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Rio Says Its Ready for 2016 Summer Games (http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/03/26/sports/AP-OLY-Rio-2016-Bid.html) - N.Y. Times

DENVER (AP) -- Rio de Janeiro organizers trying to lure the 2016 Olympics are trumpeting the Brazilian city as the sensible and sentimental choice. Rio is trying to bring the Summer Games to South America for the first time, competing against Chicago, Madrid and Tokyo, whose countries have hosted a combined 14 Olympics, including seven in the summer.

Bid officials from Brazil, Latin America's largest country, say the government fully guarantees the eye-popping price tag of $14.4 billion for the Games, which is nearly as high as the budgets of the other three candidate cities combined. The four finalists presented their proposals Thursday to senior International Olympic Committee members at the SportAccord conference of global sports industry leaders in Denver. The IOC will select the host city on Oct. 2 in Copenhagen, Denmark...

Rio's price tag for the Olympics stands out sharply from the other bid cities: Tokyo proposed a budget of $4.4 billion, Chicago $4.8 billion and Madrid $5.6 billion. The combined budgets of those three come to $14.8 billion. Rio's costs include the organizing committee's operating budget of $2.8 billion, which is raised through television rights, sponsorships and ticket sales. The separate non-organizing committee budget of $11.6 billion covers construction and infrastructure costs, including renovation of airports, roads and subway lines.

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Chicago 2016 Offers I.O.C. a Compact Games Plan (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/sports/09olympics.html?hpw=&pagewanted=all) - N.Y. Times

CHICAGO — When the evaluation team arrived last week, this city was ready. “We back the bid” and “imagine” signs were affixed to buses, bridges and buildings. Flowerpots flanking Michigan Avenue teemed with blooms. Fountains around town, turned on weeks earlier than usual, spouted plumes of water. Volunteers by the hundreds braved rain, snow and wind to show their support for bringing the 2016 Summer Olympics to Chicago.

The 13 inspectors sent from the International Olympic Committee to assess Chicago’s Olympic plans dined with Oprah Winfrey, toured the lakefront sites and attended nonstop meetings about the city’s $50 million bid. When it was over, they said they were impressed with the compactness of the city’s Games and the enthusiasm of its business leaders and citizens...

Next week the I.O.C. inspection team will repeat its evaluation process in Tokyo, one of four cities bidding for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Trips to Rio de Janeiro and Madrid are scheduled in subsequent weeks. These are the commission’s final visits before it submits a report by Sept. 2 on the technical aspects of each bid. On Oct. 2 the I.O.C. will vote on a winner.

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USOC Backs Off Disputed Olympic Network Plans (http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/08/16/sports/AP-OLY-USOC-Network.html?hp) - N.Y. Times

BERLIN (AP) -- The U.S. Olympic Committee postponed plans for its own television network after objections from international Olympic officials.

USOC chairman Larry Probst said Sunday he has decided to delay development of the TV project until all issues have been resolved with the International Olympic Committee. The announcement came a day after Probst met in Berlin with IOC president Jacques Rogge to discuss the dispute over the U.S. Olympic Network...

The IOC criticized the USOC last month for ''unilaterally'' announcing the launch of the TV network on July 8, saying it raised complex legal questions and could jeopardize relations with Olympic broadcaster NBC...

The decision is a major boost for Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympics. Had the USOC pushed ahead with the TV plans, it could have hurt Chicago's chances in the IOC vote on Oct. 2 vote in Copenhagen. The other bid cities are Rio de Janeiro, Madrid and Tokyo.

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Women’s Boxing Added for 2012 Olympics (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/14/sports/14olympics.html) - N.Y. Times

BERLIN — Berlin has not been an Olympic city since 1936, but the Olympics were changed here Thursday, and more change could be on the way.

Meeting in the German capital, the International Olympic Committee’s executive board voted to include women’s boxing in the 2012 Summer Games in London. The 15-member board, presided over by the I.O.C. president, Jacques Rogge, also voted to recommend that rugby sevens and golf be included in the program for the 2016 Olympic Games. But it rejected the candidacies of five other sports: baseball, karate, roller sports, softball and squash.

The full I.O.C. membership will vote in October to decide whether rugby and golf will be incorporated.


I.O.C. Decision Draws Cheers and Complaints From Athletes (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/14/sports/14sports.html?ref=sports) - N.Y. Times

Female boxers were pleased, as were golfers and rugby players. But athletes in other sports with Olympic aspirations — including baseball, softball and karate — were left feeling snubbed Thursday when Olympic officials made some decisions on what games would be played at the Games....

Even some women’s boxers were not fully satisfied. They were upset with the I.O.C. decision to use only three weight classes while excluding seven others.

[unclesox]

Love rugby sevens. :cool:
Has Fiji ever had an Olympic gold medalist? :D

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Leader Does Not Emerge In Report on 2016 Bids (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/sports/03olympics.html?_r=1&ref=sports) - N.Y. Times

Chicago’s bid to host the 2016 Olympics received mostly praise, tempered by concerns over finances and transportation, in a report released Wednesday by the International Olympic Committee on the plans of the four cities vying to host the Games.

The report did not single out a winner or loser among the finalists, underscoring the closeness of the race a month before I.O.C. members are due to vote on the host city in Copenhagen. Chicago is competing with Tokyo, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro...

The report called Chicago’s $3.8 billion budget “ambitious but achievable” and said the bid had the support of national government officials as well as 67% of city residents, according to an I.O.C. poll. By comparison, 56% of Toyko residents supported that city’s bid. In Rio and Madrid, 85% of residents supported the bids in each city.

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Obama Is Being Recruited By Chicago Olympic Group (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/11/sports/11olympics.html?ref=sports) - N.Y. Times

WASHINGTON — He is fighting two wars, trying to tame a recession and seeking to remake one-sixth of the American economy by overhauling health care. But President Obama is also the world’s best-known Chicagoan. So should he leave his day duties to fly to Denmark to help his adopted hometown win the right to host the Olympics?

Chicago thinks so, or at least some of the city’s leadership does. In the waning days of its bid for the Summer Olympics of 2016, the city is pressuring its favorite son to put it over the top by making an appearance at the International Olympic Committee meeting in Copenhagen next month. It does not hurt that one of the city’s top boosters is Valerie Jarrett, the president’s close friend and White House adviser.

Aides said Thursday that no final decision had been made, but that they doubted Obama would make the trip. It is no easy choice. If he does not go, he risks the consternation of his political ally Mayor Richard M. Daley. If he does go and Chicago loses, he could be embarrassed by not bringing home the gold. Even if he were to help Chicago win, he might still be criticized for devoting time to such a venture at a moment of great national challenges.

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Canada Protects Home Advantage at Olympics (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/21/sports/21olympics.html?ref=sports) - N.Y. Times

Count the American speedskater Catherine Raney among the athletes, coaches and officials of several sports surprised by Canada’s approach to hosting the Winter Games in February.

Raney, who spent more than seven years living in Canada and training with the Canadian national team, was told after the 2006 Olympics that the Canadians did not want foreign athletes training with them leading to the 2010 Games in Vancouver. She and many other foreign athletes had expected to spend quite a bit of time practicing at the Olympic sites, but have been granted only minimal access...

Canadian officials said they were following rules of access to competition sites, as set by each sport’s governing body. But they also intend to protect the Olympic host’s home-field — or home-ice, home-snow or home-track — advantage. Canada has made a public quest to win more medals than ever, and more than any other country.