Beijing Olympics thread

Good point^

I also think that it's time to get rid of the bid process and just select a small number of rotating sites for each games. Choosing cities that have to literally build the facilities needed for every aspect of the games from the ground up is just a ridiculous waste of time and resources for the one time economic influx and whatever impact the exposure of the games may have on their tourism.

If done right, the facilities can be a huge legacy. Centennial Park has become a great area of Atlanta. It became the front door for the Georgia Aquarium amd the College Football Hall of Fame, among other attractions. The Natatoriun became a phenomenal recreation center for Georgia Tech. Every summer thousands of kids swim there at the culmination of the summer swim team season and it's hosting the NCAA swimming and diving championships this spring. It's also used by one of the elite swim programs in the city for the kids who want to put in the work to be college level competitive swimmers. The athletes village became the first ever dorms for Georgia State University, which has helped propel it from a 24,000 commuter student school to a school of 34,000 students, almost 20% of whom are living in on campus housing downtown, to a soon to be 50,000+ student school when Georgia Perimeter College is merged into it over the next year.

Those are just a few examples around here of where investment 20 years ago continues to give back and spur more investment.

Oops--wrong thread. I was looking for the Montreal Olympics discussion.

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Originally Posted by Chip R

Perhaps they need rotating sites. Places that already have arenas and infrastructure in place - especially for the Winter Olympics.

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I think that's the way to go. That way cities are just updating sites and not totally building new stadiums,venues etc...

Also does it ever snow in Beijing? I saw something that they will have to make all of their snow.

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Originally Posted by cumberlandreds

I think that's the way to go. That way cities are just updating sites and not totally building new stadiums,venues etc...

Also does it ever snow in Beijing? I saw something that they will have to make all of their snow.

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Yes I saw the place that will host the skiing events gets maybe a half inch to a couple of inches a year so all the snow has to made

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Originally Posted by Reds Fanatic

Yes I saw the place that will host the skiing events gets maybe a half inch to a couple of inches a year so all the snow has to made

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The Birds of Prey downhill course in Colorado usually hosts a World Cup event in early December. Most of the course is made via man made snow. Not only man made snow, but troughs of ice, the skiers tend to like it as icy as possible. They end up blowing a ton of snow to get a nice base and then make troughs of ice to make it slick. For the December race, very little of the actual course is natural snow, heck they don't really like natural snow for speed races.

Now I think it is laughable to host a Winter Olympics in a city like Beijing and even worse to host downhill events on a mountain that doesn't get snow.

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Originally Posted by Chip R

Perhaps they need rotating sites. Places that already have arenas and infrastructure in place - especially for the Winter Olympics.

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This is what I've been thinking: five locations for the Summer Olympics, five for the Winter Olympics, five for the World Cup, and five for the Women's World Cup. The events would rotate through each location once every 20 years or so.

But that wouldn't line the IOC and FIFA members' pockets with bribe money, so doubtful they'll ever consider it.

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Originally Posted by Chip R

Perhaps they need rotating sites. Places that already have arenas and infrastructure in place - especially for the Winter Olympics.

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Indeed. Hosting the games (particularly the Winter Olympics) just doesn't make sense financially for the host city (or country) so they've basically become vanity projects for dictators and third world countries that are trying to project themselves as players on the international stage... So you're left with Summer Olympics in places like Rio, where the water is poisoned and crime is rampant and Winter games in Beijing, where it never snows.

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Originally Posted by Dan

This is what I've been thinking: five locations for the Summer Olympics, five for the Winter Olympics, five for the World Cup, and five for the Women's World Cup. The events would rotate through each location once every 20 years or so.

But that wouldn't line the IOC and FIFA members' pockets with bribe money, so doubtful they'll ever consider it.

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You're right but for the Olympics, there seems to be fewer and fewer cities willing to "do what it takes" to get the Games. It appeared like Beijing and Kazakhstan were the only two candidates and I doubt that anyone was seriously thinking about Kazakhstan hosting the Winter Olympics. A place like Colorado Springs would be great since there are already a lot of the facilities in place. For the hockey and figure skating, they can always go to Denver. I would think the Nordic nations would be able to pull it off as well.

Looks like Colorado wanted the games, but the US committee decided not to bid and concentrate on getting the summer games again instead. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1650833.html

For some weird reason I thought I remembered Vail as a past host, but I went over the list, and Colorado's never hosted. We've had Lake Placid twice, Squaw Valley, and Salt Lake City. That's it.

Denver was going to host but refused the games in 1976

http://mentalfloss.com/article/31291...-1976-olympics