21 replies to this topic

[GBModerator]

According to a survey reported Tuesday in the Nepszabadsag daily, 70 per cent of Hungarians say they want Budapest to be for the 2020 Summer

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[LuigiVercotti]

Oh Oh...don't let Jacques find out or he'll be swooping in with his elite team of IOC aides to issue a 'Of course Budapest can host a successful games in 2020' statement.

Seriously though, Budapest does have a reasonable case to put forward for hosting. Potential venue for the first modern SOGs (if it wasn't for Averoff and those dashed Greeks ), with Hungary punching well above its weight in Olympic sport history (yes, that was a crude pun referring to Laszlo Papp) and Pal Schmitt onboard (one of the IOC's most influential players in the Samaranch Senior era and still a key identity in the Lausanne Bunker), Budapest could be an intriguing dark horse candidate. Little chance for success but still worth paying attention to.

[Sir Rols]

eusebius65, on 01 September 2010 - 05:54 PM, said:

Little chance for success but still worth paying attention to.

Yeah, that'd probably how I'd rate them. Very dark horse, but I'd be wary of dismissing them totally. If sports and olympic tradition count for anything, that's a huge plus for them.

Anyway, gotta say, sentimentally and personally, they're one bidder I'd love to see make the attempt.

[LuigiVercotti]

Sir Rols, on 01 September 2010 - 06:10 PM, said:

Yeah, that'd probably how I'd rate them. Very dark horse, but I'd be wary of dismissing them totally. If sports and olympic tradition count for anything, that's a huge plus for them.

Anyway, gotta say, sentimentally and personally, they're one bidder I'd love to see make the attempt.

With you 100% on the sentiment side Rols...Hungary has been a bit like Australia when it comes to Olympic participation, the middle type of power that does way better than most folk would expect. And some of their Olympic greats are truly legends (Papp, Egerszegi for example). Plus there is the central/eastern European angle and finally it would simply be more interesting to go to Buda on the Pest than (say) yet another trip to Paris,Tokyo, LA or any other previous host city.

[baron-pierreIV]

They better hurry! Their most famous booster, Zsa Zsa Gabor, isn't going to last very long. Of course, she could tape a post-mortem message.

[Sir Rols]

baron-pierreIV, on 01 September 2010 - 07:03 PM, said:

They better hurry! Their most famous booster, Zsa Zsa Gabor, isn't going to last very long. Of course, she could tape a post-mortem message.

Ah, but does she feel it in her bones!

[baron-pierreIV]

Sir Rols, on 01 September 2010 - 07:08 PM, said:

Ah, but does she feel it in her bones!

She could actually send her bones with her message.

[FYI]

Sports tradition & sementality aside, isn't Budapest, & especially Hungary as a whole, too small now to host a Summer Olympic Games. Didn't Athens, more or less, demonstrate that very tiny nations like Greece, the Czech Republic, Hungary, etc want to (or have done so) bite off more than they can chew, especially if they gravely fall behind or just plainly go beyond budget (as is most of time the case). As nostalgic as a Budapest Games may be, they're not China that can simply go all out with a bang & barely make a dent in their national deficit.

[baron-pierreIV]

FYI, on 01 September 2010 - 07:30 PM, said:

Sports tradition & sementality aside, isn't Budapest, & especially Hungary as a whole, too small now to host a Summer Olympic Games. Didn't Athens, more or less, demonstrate that very tiny nations like Greece, the Czech Republic, Hungary, etc want to (or have done so) bite off more than they can chew, especially if they gravely fall behind or just plainly go beyond budget (as is most of time the case). As nostalgic as a Budapest Games may be, they're not China that can simply go all out with a bang & barely make a dent in their national deficit.

U're right..and I think the Hungarian economy isn't doing too great either. They should just go for a Ballroom Dancing world championships or something of that order...

[LuigiVercotti]

Economically Hungary is certainly not as strong as China or Australia but it does very well contrasted with Greece (and better, for example than Italy in terms of public debt). However whose to say where things will be in a year, two years or of course 10 years economically for the Hungarians. Having said that the economic question for any Budapest bid is not whether we think they can finance a games, its whether the government can sell to the IOC the belief that they will subsidise any Budapest SOGs even if (or when) threatened with a deficit. After all London 2012 was predicated on far rosier economic conditions and now that the UK has suffered significant downturns in its overall economic performance it's been the responsibility of the British government to step in and help carry more of the fiscal load for the games.

It's certainly a pipe dream for now, and 2020 is arguably unrealistic, but with some development of the technical aspects the Hungarians could mount a seriously competitive bid for (say) 2024 or later.