Rob2012

Well, we could be about to find out...

I hope the President won't be too busy to attend

Only seen a few clips online, but this looked fantastic. It's real guys.

My point about nothing being settled till early 2025 wasn't me worrying that they might not get the thing built (wherever it is). It was more an exasperated realisation this is going to drag on for quite a bit longer. But they have squandered the luxury of all the extra time they had. They're now back on a more normal schedule and things can get tight if they have many more squabbles over this. At the moment, I'm still in the camp that says it'll be fine.

I wouldn't overthink this. With regard to UK bids, I'd pay less attention to the titbits mayors or prospective mayors throw out (especially during election time), and more attention to this: To the IOC – with us hosting the games in 2012 – we are still a recent host,” said Esther Britten, head of major events at UK Sport. “We can’t see that until the 2040s at the earliest.” https://www.theguardian.com/football/2024/mar/05/uk-sport-womens-world-cup-fifa-britain-host Khan's apparent enthusiasm for 2040* is a) far enough away that he won't have to do anything in this term of his mayoralty other than occasionally talk up the idea and b) just about in line with UK Sport's plan so it is credible in that sense. UK mayors have far fewer actual powers than most of their international counterparts, so a not-insignificant part of their job is acting as spokesperson or salesperson for their city both internationally and pressuring central government on policy. Any vague future Olympic talk is the salesman part of the job, and reminding people of the summer of 2012 is never a bad thing for a London mayor to do. ----- * which I didn't even know about until reading Rob's article!

Right, so just googled this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Queensland_state_election So a holding pattern on this stadium issue until October, but realistically until 2025.

What a weird tangent. Even Atlanta managed to get the stadium three quarters full for its Paralympic OC. As far as I can tell every Summer OC since has been a sell out (or close) for the Paras. If the ceremonies venue changes it'll be because they've decided to bung swimming in SoFi - and that'll obviously have to change for both Games. At the moment that seems like nothing more than a (somewhat persistent) rumour anyway.

Ah interesting, I missed that tweet. Khan has a bit of a record of quietly playing up the idea of another Olympics then not really following through with it. Not that I'm too worried, I never expected another Olympics so soon after 2012, and the idea of a future Olympics was not an issue anyone was talking about in this election. So, as far as London 2040 goes, let's see what happens. And....to be perfectly honest, at the moment (and given the rumours circulating since yesterday morning) I'm just relieved Tory nutjob Susan Hall didn't get in.

Yep, and a weirdly worded one too with a particular agenda around a different Games. That said we heard this rumour before this report, so I'm inclined to believe there is something in it - even if it's just being considered.

"One World, One Ocean"

Herald Sun, behind a paywall, but Google served up this much on its results page... Build a pool at Suncorp: LA Olympics can be Brisbane blueprint The epic stadium that hosted the Super Bowl and Taylor Swift is set to be transformed for the world’s biggest swimming event at the 2028 Olympics, why Brisbane must follow LA’s lead to save itself from embarrassment. According to highly-placed sources who were not authorised to speak publicly ahead of a formal announcement, SoFi Stadium will be the ultimate left-field venue for the Olympic swimming events in 2028. https://www.heraldsun.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=HSWEB_WRE170_a_GGL&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.heraldsun.com.au%2Fsport%2Folympics%2Fwhy-brisbane-must-follow-las-lead-and-put-our-best-olympic-sport-on-the-biggest-stage%2Fnews-story%2Fdd1e88a9945357a3cd778686f97dad3a&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium&v21=GROUPA-Segment-2-NOSCORE

As I understand it, they're replacing the 'old' (hah!) corners with temporary seating that can be altered to create a narrower NFL seating experience or a wider soccer one, as is needed. They're making it more flexible, not permanently wider. But that's not really relevant I don't think. I'd imagine if swimming is going to SoFi it'd be more like what we saw in Kazan a few years ago with two pools occupying the stadium field (one a practice pool). That would obviously mean ceremonies can't be there (despite my facetious suggestion of incorporating the pool into the ceremonies).