Fucking Beijing?!?!

[Grape_Ape]

...they host the Olympics again?

Fuck China. I haven't done my google earth research on the ski venue, but my prelim intel tells me that the skiers will be enjoying manmade snow. Oh...and lots of air pollution.

At least Kazakhstan offered mountains with real snow and a centralized venue.

Pffft.

[BmillsSkier]

Seriously. IOC selecting Beijing :: FIFA selecting Qatar

[Obstruction]

That's why I'm thankful the #10peopleontwitter shitcanned the Boston 24 five ring summer circus bid. Fucking USOC is as bad as the IOC.
They've turned the Olympics into a bad joke.

[zartagen]

Paging Kim jong un for an argument for why North Korea should've received the bid

[Grape_Ape]

Shit...I would almost rather North Korea host it.

[liv2ski]

Well, jokes on them. They spend hundreds of millions to host it and end up losing their shirts on the deal. I think the Olympics is an endangered species these days.

[that dude who did that thing]

Grape Ape is a very angry man. He needs a joint. Every day. Several times a day.

It's the fucking olympics, everybody knows it's up for sale, and everybody knows it's a ridiculous boondoggle that destroys communities, the environment, and government budgets. China did not "win" the olympics, we are imposing another olympic games on it.

[Benny Profane]

US Ag goes after international soccer, because, basically, Americans could give a fuck about soccer, and they screwed the wrong people here when they awarded the last World Cup. But American companies have invested billions in the Olympics. Just imagine the top executives of NBC being perp walked. Never happen. You would think things improved after Salt Lake, but, looks like it's much worse. What a fucking joke. China. Really.

[Tippster]

Good God and we thought the conditions were bad in Sochi for the skiing events...

[hutash]

I don't know about China, but LA made a shit ton of money on the '84 games, and likely will ax gain if they host the 2024? games. The secret is to have the infrastructure in place. Building a few billion dollar venues ruins all profits.

[BmillsSkier]

And Atlanta's games were fully paid for by sponsors.

Those days are long gone.

Can't wait to see how bad another slushy shitty half pipe event will be.

[DontTazeMeBro]

China needs a new project for their slave labor...

[MontuckyFried]

Wow...just wow. All the amazing places around the world that could host (with existing facilities even), and they pick an arid spot outside of Beijing that barely gets any snow? Apparently, they only get an annual snowfall of like a meter with an average depth of like 8", but only like 2" where the events will be held. So it's pretty much all dependent on man made snow. Genius! I've always loved the winter olympics, but between Sochi and now Beijing, I'm starting to lose interest. I'd like to see it happen at Squaw Valley again! The Nagano games were pretty memorable too. I wonder what it was that made those older events seem so much better?

[LightRanger]

To be fair to the IOC, after the AP article came out this week about the water pathogens in Rio that will NOT be gone by the time the games arrive, they probably awarded it to China because they knew the Chinese could get it done.

I was pulling for Kazakhstan too, but China may have been, paradoxically, less risky--after the highly publicized construction (corruption) issues in Sochi and now Rio. Say what you want about the Chinese and their venue's likely manmade snow, they know how to build shit fast.

Anybody wishing to elsewhere (see immediately above) is dreaming. Beijing and Almaty were the only two options for a reason.

[Tippster]

Has Santiago ever tried to get the Winter Olympics or does it have to be a Northern Hemisphere thing?

[markb]

The efficient strategy, talked about by people involved in the SLC and PC sites, is to have a few locations that rotate. One in North America, one in Europe, one in Asia so each is up about once a decade. Let them get it dialed, and huge cut in capital costs.

[huckbucket]

I think the Olympics is an endangered species these days.

^^ This. Bunch of jacked up athletes producing unrealistic performances at HUGE expense. Ghay!!!

[Grape_Ape]

I am pretty sure there is a way to host the Olympics these days and not lose your shirt in capital costs. Just don't have it where you have to build every fucking thing from scratch. Duh.

Why does everything have to be brand new?

[Grape_Ape]

Has Santiago ever tried to get the Winter Olympics or does it have to be a Northern Hemisphere thing?

Santiago would be a great venue IMO, except for that they would have to build most of the infrastructure prior to the event.

[MontuckyFried]

The efficient strategy, talked about by people involved in the SLC and PC sites, is to have a few locations that rotate. One in North America, one in Europe, one in Asia so each is up about once a decade. Let them get it dialed, and huge cut in capital costs.

That's what I honestly don't understand. I visited the Olympic Park by Park City last December and walked away wondering, why the heck couldn't they use all the facilities around SLC again? Sure, it'd need some refurb to bring it all back up to speed, but seems a whole lot cheaper than building entirely new venues. The rotation idea seems to be the best. Same goes for the summer Olympics. Is there any GOOD reason countries keep having to spend so many billions upon billions to host each time? Just keep recycling!

[Adolf Allerbush]

Has Santiago ever tried to get the Winter Olympics or does it have to be a Northern Hemisphere thing?

IMO, the only issue would be having the Winter Olympics in what the northern hemisphere considers to be it's summer. Argentina would be epic too...or New Z.

That's what I honestly don't understand. I visited the Olympic Park by Park City last December and walked away wondering, why the heck couldn't they use all the facilities around SLC again? Sure, it'd need some refurb to bring it all back up to speed, but seems a whole lot cheaper than building entirely new venues. The rotation idea seems to be the best. Same goes for the summer Olympics. Is there any GOOD reason countries keep having to spend so many billions upon billions to host each time? Just keep recycling!

That's what I thought was interesting about Chicago's bid for the summer Olympics a few years ago. They were going to have to build a bunch of shit, but a lot of it was reusing venues or re-purposing venues temporarily for the games. The rotation deal would be cool....sheeit, I've always thought Portland or Seattle could be a cool place to host the winter Olympics.

Beijing is straight up idiotic. Yeah, they'll be able to build a bunch of shitty infrastructure, just like the Russians, quickly, but in a few years it will be a rusty shithole...just like the birds nest is now.

[glademaster]

It would be a nice shot in the arm for upstate NY to get the games back to Lake Placid sometime in the future.

[Bromontana]

The efficient strategy, talked about by people involved in the SLC and PC sites, is to have a few locations that rotate. One in North America, one in Europe, one in Asia so each is up about once a decade. Let them get it dialed, and huge cut in capital costs.

^ +1. It's a little uninspiring to use a place like Beijing for WO with so many better qualified and preexisting venues in place around the world. Santiago would be very cool, I'd tune in to that for the scenery alone. Ignoring the cool mountain ranges is a bummer.

Break out the smog masks, it's time for Olympic competition!

[Danno]

they had the summer olympics down under in our winter, don't see why they couldn't do the winter olympics in the southern hemisphere during our summer.

[Benny Profane]

To be fair to the IOC, after the AP article came out this week about the water pathogens in Rio that will NOT be gone by the time the games arrive, they probably awarded it to China because they knew the Chinese could get it done.

No, they awarded it to China because they paid the highest bribe. And, Kazakhstan?? Please. One of the most corrupt countries to fall out of the old Soviet block. A lot of people could "get it done" in short time. Hell, NY state has an authority in place by the name of ORDA (the Olympic Regional Development Authority), that basically maintains Whiteface mountain (Olympic downhill twice in it's history, and, as soon as you go top to bottom on Iceface on a cold Janurary day, you understand why) and various facilities in the town of Lake Placid and Gore Mountain to the south, all of which attract many winter athletes for training and competition. Many Euro towns are more than ready to host the winter games. World class skiing, and it fucking snows there. Give me a break with China.

Anybody wishing to elsewhere (see immediately above) is dreaming. Beijing and Almaty were the only two options for a reason.

And, that reason is?