60 replies to this topic

[baron-pierreIV]

OK, here's an interesting premise.  IF Athens had won the Games for 1996, then how do you think the succeeding sites (bor both Summer and Winter) would've been chosen -- and give you reasons why.   Part of your answers/scenario must include the 2nd winning city of that year, in the whole equation.   Here's my take:

1996 - Athens edges out Atlanta.  

2000 - a 3-way race between Atlanta, Beijing and Sydney.  I think Games would still have gone to Sydney.

2004 - race between Atlanta, Beijing and Rome.  They go to Atlanta.

2008 - 2 way between Beijing and Rome.  Beijing wins in inasmuch as the last Summer Games in Asia were 20 years earlier, in Seoul in1988 whereas 2 consecutive ones were held in Europe: 1992 and 1996.  

2012 - Rome and Paris - probably Paris since Rome only had it in 1960.  

Bets, gentlemen?

[Rols O'Bertilsson]

baron-pierreIV, on Aug. 25 2004,15:37, said:

Some very good scenarios, especially Kendegra and roltel (pray tell, what the h*ll is your avatar?).  Interesting how things might've played out differently, huh?

My Avatar's Fatso, the Fat-Arsed Wombat, the "unofficial" mascot of Sydney 2000. He was introduced as an alternative mascot by a comedy sportscaster duo and quickly took off in popularity _ even making it onto a official postage stamp when a gold-winning swimmer carried him onto the medal podium. The Australian Olympic Committee, worried that Fatso was taking the limelight off the official mascots, then banned the athletes from carrying him into the games after that.

[Kenadian]

Actually, this is kind of hard...if Athens had won 1996, Toronto could have made a decent stab at either 2000 or 2004.  Europe would have been hard pressed to get a Games until 2012 with two back to back in the 1990's and the USOC probably wouldn't have kept Atlanta for very long.  And then there's the Winter dynamic.

So here goes...

Athens wins 1996...OK.

With no American host right before it, Salt Lake easily wins 1998.

Sydney, Beijing, Istanbul, Atlanta and Toronto bid for 2000 with no Europeans in the race (they know with Barcelona and Athens before them, they can't hope to win).  The USOC considers dumping Atlanta or not bidding at all, having just won the Winter Games of 1998, but fulfills a committment to Atlanta and bids.  However, nothing really changes.  The Aussies win it in a showdown with Beijing.  Beijing is stung and vows that it won't bid again.

Nagano wins 2002.

For 2004, the USOC finally dumps Atlanta after 2 consecutive losses.  This time, though, they go with Chicago (NYC and SF haven't formulated enough interest in bidding by this time).  The short list includes Chicago, Rome, Cape Town, Toronto and Buenos Aries.  BA drops first.  Then Cape Town.  It is almost too close to call on Rome, Chicago and Toronto.  But with SLC only 6 years behind, Chicago could seriously drop.

Torino 2006 proceeds only if Toronto or Chicago wins 2004.  Sion wins 2006 if Rome wins 2004.

Beijing decides to return to the bidding process...nothing really changes though.  The bidders may differe - Toronto and Chicago may or may not be in the running - a North American win in 2004 ends a North American bid in 2008, but a Rome win in 2004 leaves it open for both.  It's pointless though.  Beijing wins it easily on the second ballot.

Vancouver wins only if Toronto fails in 2004.  Toronto cannot win against Beijing in 2008.  Otherwise, Salzburg defeats PC on the first ballot - 59 to 51.

The 2012 race looks the same.  The only difference is NYC.  If Chicago takes 2004, they don't get a shot.  If Toronto or Rome took it, NYC is still in the hunt.  If Toronto is still without a Games, they pull out after 3 failed bids and chase the Commonwealth Games or Expo.

[Imagineer]

1996: Athens inches past Atlanta by a few votes, but construction and security issues force the games to be moved to Los Angeles in early 1993. An outraged Atlanta swears never to bid again.

1998: Salt Lake City wins by a wide margin, but when Athens drops two years later, Salt Lake City is forced by the IOC to give the games to close second place Nagano.

2000: America decides to put forward Washington, DC, which goes up against Beijing, Sydney, and Istanbul in the shortlist. However, because LA recieved 1996 after the shortlist was made, Washington is forced out of the shortlist. Istanbul goes in the first round, and Sydney wins over Beijing in a tie-breaker.

2002: Salt Lake City, an obvious front runner, is forced to drop its bid when Dick Pound reveals the votes for money scandal (I can have fun, can't I?). This leaves Muju and Ostersund in the final round, and Ostersund wins by just one vote.

2004: Seeing the lack of European candidates, Beijing decides to bid for 2004, along with Cape Town, Istanbul, Toronto, and San Francisco. Washington, DC drops the American bid after feeling humiliated from the loss in 2000. Toronto is seen as a favorite, but San Francisco is a surprise spoiler, and Beijing wins by three votes over Toronto, and four over San Francisco.

2006: South Korea decides not to bid after Beijing 2004, so the field is Torino, Vancouver, and Sion. Vancouver wins by a very wide margin over the other two in the first ballot, presumably because the IOC wants a European 2008.

2008: San Francisco bids again, as well as an all-star European line up: Paris, London, and Rome. Istanbul also makes the shortlist. As a crushing blow to San Francisco, it only gets 2 votes on the first ballot. After it, Istanbul and London are eliminated. On the final ballot, Paris beats Rome in a landslide 4-1 ratio.

2010: Europe decides to give 2010 a try with Torino and Salzburg. Also in the race are Santiago and PyeongChang. Through a major scandal, Salzburg wins by a landslide on the first ballot.

2012: With Europe effectively out of the running until about 2028, the bidders are New York City, Toronto, Rio de Janiero, Istanbul, and Mexico City. The USOC goes with New York City after San Francisco's humiliating loss in the 2008 race. Mexico City goes first on environmental issues alone, followed by Istanbul and Rio de Janiero for infrastructure concerns, and then New York City and Toronto go into tie breaker rounds, leaving New York City as the host city for 2012.

[BSTOUT1221]

Interesting though that two of you mentioned Ted Turner and Atlanta 1996 - Mr. Turner was NOT a big supporter of the Olympics here - mainly because they were head-to-head competition with his own Goodwill Games - thankfully, they never took off!  

Ted Turner is an amazing man but has a HUGE ego - he could not share the spotlight in this town with Billy Payne!   In fact, once AOL Time Warner got rid of him and he had no control over his precious CNN and other networks, he packed up and moved on - he now lives in Florida.  So the town he helped put on the map is not even his residence any longer!

Although thankfully, his ex-wife Jane Fonda still lives here!   She's a great lady and is still doing wonderful things with local charities here.   And Sir Elton John still calls Atlanta home!  

Just wanted to correct a previous post about Ted Turner - he had nothing to do with Atlanta winning 1996.   And Atlanta is home to Coca Cola, Home Depot, UPS, Delta Airlines, etc.... which helped ensure good sponsorship of the 96 Games - when the IOC worries about revenue streams again in the future and they will, they'll remember that and NYC which is the BIG financial capital will get the nod to host!

[Cape Town 2020]

I'll do a quick one [will eloborate tomorrrow]

1992 - Awarded to Barcelona beating Amsterdam by 6 votes.
1992 - Awarded to Albertville.
1994 - Awarder to Lillehammer.
1996 - Awarded to Athens to commorate 100 years of the modern olympics. It beats Melbourne by 1 single vote.
1998 - Awarded to Nagano.
2000 - Awarded to Sydney beating favourites Istanbul and Beijing.
2002 - Awarded to Salt Lake City but re-awarded to Christchurch, Southern Lakes after the US announces plans to boycot the next 2 olympics over terror fears.
2004 - Awarded to Buenos Aires but re-awarded to Rome after an economic meltdown in Argentina.
2006 - Awarded to Helsinki.
2008 - Awarded to Beijing beating Istanbul by 2 votes.
2010 - Awarded to Pyeong Chang.
2012 - Awarded to Rio De Janeiro beating favourites paris by 13 votes.
2014 - Awarded to Calgary.
2016 - Awarded to Paris.
2018 - Awarded to Kosciusko [Australia]
2020 - Awarded to Cape Town.

[Kenadian]

I thought the Village was created first for the Olympics and then handed over to the University after the Games for dorms.

[baron-pierreIV]

Quote

However, on September 11 2001 a passenger plane crashes into the White House, killing George W Bush, and the ensuing war launched by VP Dick Cheney against Iraq means that almost all countries are unwilling to go to SLC.

While this is a fantasy thread, on what might-have-beens, I would not have gone so far as to kill off a/my (or any) Commander-in-Chief -- only because that was not part of the original parameters I had envisioned for the subject.  Just how things might've been different if that one element - Athens actually winnning it in the first round - played true.

[amorincognito]

We can speculate....

1996 – Athens wins.

1998 – Salt Lake beats Nagano soundly.

2000 – Bids from Sydney, Beijing, Manchester, Berlin and Istanbul.  An U.S. bid is held off but Toronto tries again.  Beijing is left out of the final round in a tie-breaker with Sydney but Toronto still wins.

2002 – Nagano cleans up its act and wins over Sion and Östersund.

2004 – Bids from Rome, Cape Town, Stockholm and Buenos Aires.  Sydney bids again and wins easily in the first round.

2006 – Sion barely edges out Torino.

2008 – Surprisingly, Beijing still does not return.  What was considered a dry run for New York creates hard times for Paris, but not hard enough.  Paris wins in the final round.

2010 – In a surprise first-round vote, PyeongChang beats Vancouver, Salzburg and Torino.

2012 – Rome, Beijing and New York are back and fight hard to the finish.  With serious bids from Madrid and London in the mix, it’s anyone’s guess.

2014 – Torino, Harbin and Anchorage have all promised to bid if their respective country loses 2012, while Vancouver and Salzburg are looking to bid again.

[baron-pierreIV]

Very good, Imagineer!! Very entertaining -- but you changed the one parameter that had to be constant - that Athens won the '96 Games.

Quote

1996: Athens inches past Atlanta by a few votes, but construction and security issues force the games to be moved to Los Angeles in early 1993. An outraged Atlanta swears never to bid again.

You did mean an 'outraged Athens' right?  Would that only have been true.  I like the rest of the scenario.   THanks.