posted
Hooray! An Olympic Games within driving distance! I can't wait.
Registered: Jun 2003
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Shik
Starship database: completed; History of Starfleet: done; website: probably never
Member # 343
posted
In the past 25 years....
Lake Placid, Los Angeles (both of which are the only places to EVER have the Olympics TWICE), Calgary, Atlanta, Salt Lake City, & now Vancouver. And probably New York now.
I find it interesting that while one of the purposes of the Olympics is to promote tourism & national pride & help to increase a city's status & prestige, not once have they ever been held in Africa. Hell, Australia only got them in 2000.
Really. When I hear about Kinshasa 2014, Dakar 2016, or Nairobi 2018, give me a call.
Oh, & one other thing. Whoever thought it would be a good idea to split it the fuck up into every 2 years instead of doing it all at once every 4 need to be dragged out & publicly assraped with a chainsaw.
-------------------- "The French have a saying: 'mise en place'—keep everything in its fucking place!"
Registered: Jun 2000
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posted
It confounds me how the hell anyone can operate under the impression that they "deserve" an Olympic Games, especially a Summer Games. There are hundreds of potential hosts. Try your best, and if it's not enough, tough shit.
The fact of the matter is that Canada's odds for Winter Games will always be considerably better than Summer Games. And, still, it's a total crapshoot that comes to politics and that whole bit. You lose: dick all happens. You win: you break even moneywise (if you're lucky) and wind up with two weeks of international attention and a whole pile of leftover facilities of dubious use to the general population.
This is coming from a British Columbian firmly on the fence as far as Vancouver 2010 is concerned, incidentally.
I will make the perfectly honest observation, however, that Torontonians are the only people I know with a disturbing enough sense of municipal self-importance to get all catty about this. We won, you lost, now go back to thinking that everyone else in the country has a cottage in Muskoka and believes that this year will be the year for the Leafs.
-------------------- "I was surprised by the matter-of-factness of Kafka's narration, and the subtle humor present as a result." (Sizer 2005)
Registered: Mar 1999
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quote:Originally posted by Shik: In the past 25 years....
Lake Placid, Los Angeles (both of which are the only places to EVER have the Olympics TWICE), Calgary, Atlanta, Salt Lake City, & now Vancouver. And probably New York now.
Re: NYC. Rather unlikely. And Athens, Paris, London, St. Morix and Innsbruck have also already each hosted two, with Athens getting its third next summer.
quote: I find it interestign that while one of the purposes of the Olympics is to promote tourism & national pride & help to increase a city's status & prestige, not once have they ever been held in Africs. Hell, Australia only got them in 2000.
Melbourne in '56.
quote: Oh, & one other thing. Whoever thought it would be a good idea to split it the fuck up into every 2 years instead of doing it all at once every 4 need to be dragged out & publicly assraped with a chainsaw.
Why, dare I ask? I'd get a little Olympiced-out if they were still two together and then three and a half years of nothing.
-------------------- "I was surprised by the matter-of-factness of Kafka's narration, and the subtle humor present as a result." (Sizer 2005)
Registered: Mar 1999
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Shik
Starship database: completed; History of Starfleet: done; website: probably never
Member # 343
posted
Ah. My information was incomplete & slightly out of date. By 20 years.
Why shouldn't they split them up? It's kind of like the presidential elections. I could ignore it all & bear the painful brunt all at once in one big glob of spumm & then breathe nicely for the next 4 years.
-------------------- "The French have a saying: 'mise en place'—keep everything in its fucking place!"
Registered: Jun 2000
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Regarding the awarding of it to different cities: is anyone really surprised by what they do anymore? I mean, they gave an Olympics to the Mormons. A winter one no less. Does it even snow in Utah?
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
As long as it has that ski/shoot game, I'm all for it. The Cold War needed to last longer, I feel. There were not enough stories told about Secret Siberian Soviet Snipers who train under the cover of that "whateverthehell" sport that is.
Rutger Hauer slated to star.
Registered: Oct 1999
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posted
The value and number of the gifts that cities and local governments give the IOC is directly proporational to their propensity to award a city an olympic event.
Only those with fat money clips need apply.
Registered: Jun 2003
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Shik
Starship database: completed; History of Starfleet: done; website: probably never
Member # 343
posted
The biathalon, UM.
-------------------- "The French have a saying: 'mise en place'—keep everything in its fucking place!"
Registered: Jun 2000
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Saltah'na
Chinese Canadian, or 75% Commie Bastard.
Member # 33
posted
"How exactly was Toronto screwed in 1996? What unfair advantage did Atlanta think up?"
As far as I remember, Atlanta had a team of their supporters meet up with the Toronto Opposers in creating a common front, in order to distract the IOC from Toronto. One of the issues that they highlighted in Toronto was homelessness, which, ironically, was more prevalent in Atlanta than Toronto.
"I will make the perfectly honest observation, however, that Torontonians are the only people I know with a disturbing enough sense of municipal self-importance to get all catty about this."
I'll give you that one. Our city has suffered in the last few years, some of it due to government mismanagement (I'm still considering being a garbageman). Tourism has slumped, we have no resources to maintain the city. SARS has made it worse. We're now a cesspool more than a great city to visit. Civic pride is important to many of us, and it runs deep. There are many people who want to restore Toronto to its former grandeur. The Olympics would help, but yes, sometimes it can be a crapshoot. Ironically, the provincial government thinks that the Olympics would do wonders for the city's economy, after all, they were the ones who gutted said economy in the first place.
Granted, the Olympics doesn't necessarily mean good things for the host city. Montreal's still paying for their '76 Olympics because of its financial mismanagement. Then there is Munich, where terrorists killed many Israeli athletes. My roots to this city run deep, and I would like to see this city continue to flourish.
But as they say, it's all downhill from here. Did you know that the provincial government is looking to privatize public transit?
"now go back to thinking that everyone else in the country has a cottage in Muskoka and believes that this year will be the year for the Leafs."
I don't own a cottage, neither do my parents, or the majority of Torontonians I know. As for the Leafs? I kinda gave up on them a while ago. GO JAYS!!!
-------------------- "And slowly, you come to realize, it's all as it should be, you can only do so much. If you're game enough, you could place your trust in me. For the love of life, there's a tradeoff, we could lose it all but we'll go down fighting...." - David Sylvian FreeSpace 2, the greatest space sim of all time, now remastered!
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Unfortunately, the competitors in such an event are not "athaletes", and therefore the word is, in fact, "biathlon". Which is more of a dual-processor setup than a Communist conspiracy. But, continue keeping close tabs on your precious bodily fluids, if you so desire.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
If we ever do see games in Africa, the most likely host will be: South Africa. Followed by North Africa, and by the time they get into selecting the other parts of Africa the year will be 2373 and we'll be under attack by the Borg, so no one will care. But still, wouldn't the Mogadishu Olympics be something else?...
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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