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Is this a dream? Honestly guys this means a hell of a lot to me. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS!!!! GET IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! To finally see my logo on the roll with all of the other awesome winners is fecking lit I would like to thank everyone who voted for my logo over all of the rounds, you guys are the best and i am forever in your gratitude. To those who voted for the other logos - thank you for doing that also as it makes the comps fun and competitive and that nothing is certain in these things. Rols, buddy thank you for your promotion of the comp and also for your 2nd win Finally Yoshi - you bloody legend, when this comp could have fell into the abyss you have continued to make it fun and exciting every year, for that my friend... THANK YOU! Looking forward already to the 20th champions of champions comp and ofcourse next years. Heres to Gamesbids forums Thank you all

Hello friends of GamesBids. It has been 5 years since I last posted here and at that time much of my life was in a mess: wife had cancer, problems at my job that caused me deep depression, among others. At that time I realized that if I stayed here reading the forums it would ruin the joy of receiving the Olympic Games in my beloved hometown of Rio. So I decided to simply avoid GamesBids Forums. I decided to face the lots of problems of my life and also enjoy my dream. I don't regret. Fortunately, my wife's cancer was cured in 2017 and I'm still treating my depression (it got much worse in mid-2017 and every day has been a battle since then). About the Olympics? I think you guys agree with me: It's the best event in the planet and Rio 2016 was perfect. For me it was. Rio and Brazil had, have and will have problems (just like all countries, some more, other less). But as I pointed above, we must face problems and enjoy life when possible. Rio did it. I did it. And unfortunately I couldn't did it here with some many "POVs" ruining my experience. During the years at the Forums I made a very special friend, Martin from Germany. He came to Rio 2016, we went to Maracanãzinho together watch female volleyball, he stayed few days at my home and it was one of the best days of my life. Martin is truly a gentleman and a special human being. He told me some members of the forums were in Rio. I wish I could have met all of them to have fun and show a little bit of the city. I was not invited to the rendervouz and that's really okay. Somehow this was/is a club of friends and I was never part of the club... "Danny is too sensitive to critics". You are right. Maybe I was to certain extent. But anyway it doesn't matter anymore. For those who came to Rio 2016, I truly hope you enjoyed at least one second of your stay. If you smiled once in Rio I'm happy. Smiles are more special than I thought before depression and smiles are the most pure expression of our souls. During the last 5 years I missed all the logo competitions, all the inappropriate bid contests, some jokes, some good talk, but I never missed some bad times we had here. Thankfully now it's past and no hard feelings. :) I waited 5 years to write this post. I waited the end of Tokyo Games so now Rio is past, Tokyo is past too. Right time to say something without Rio games in the mirror. I want to thank you for a great opportunity on understanding different cultures, to understand different backgrounds, to learn much of the English skills I have today (still not fluent). You guys helped me a lot with English! You guys also helped me a lot in the other fandom I'm part now. The "international mindset" that I learned here was a keypoint in my 5-year role as a chairman of an international event held annually in Brazil and respected abroad. Thank you! It was also a great opportunity to prove myself that we must focus in good things of life. It's way better than spend time trying to show other people with pre-existing judgements that things can be a little bit different. To show that maybe I was right to be happy about something we share the passion - Olympic Games. But Olympic Games in a different place, a place I love. To all those who read this letter, my respect and best wishes of good luck. To those few ready to write harsh words in the comments, my respect and best wishes of good luck too. To GBMod, thank you for everything in the past and I hope IOC bring back the bid process. It was much better. Greetings from Brazil (and Brazil continues a very amazing and beautiful place as always), Danny PS: Rio 2016 Opening Ceremony still the best after 5 years. Change my mind - lol

SPOILER ALERT A rehearsal of the Opening Ceremony was held last night in Tokyo and I managed to find some footage from Channel 7 News Australia (the Australian broadcaster for the Olympics). You can expect a lot of fireworks, projections and some Japanese elements blended with contemporary art. Looks very promising.

Hello, I'm new here; allow me to make my contribution to the discussion by providing you with some information on the artistic content of the OOC as they were recently revealed in the French press and which, it seems, has not been not mentioned here: First of all Thierry Reboul*, the executive director of the ceremonies, who was interviewed in a major French sports media: “The opening ceremony will be twelve scenes, twelve scenes which will follow one another. And there is a great novelty which was brought by Thomas Jolly, which is to say that we were going to take the artistic segments, that we were going to take the parade of athletes which is the backbone of an opening ceremony, and we are going to mix all that." "In fact the parade of athletes will cross these twelve scenes. And the ceremony will take place along the water following this parade. We will go from one scene to another." And another article** (this time paid) in which Thomas Jolly was interviewed where we learn that the first of these scenes was to take place on the Quai de Béthune, but the fragility of this quay requires that this scene either adapted or moved elsewhere. Also, the facade of the Hôtel-Dieu in Paris (just next to Notre-Dame) was to have scene planned on its facade (probably dancers? light shows?), but the discovery of asbestos prevented its use. The other information is that the Trocadéro will host the arrival of the Olympic flame, Macron's speech (thank God he will not make a parade on the Seine with the athletes) and the last scene; which probably means that there will be 11 scenes spread over the 6km of the Seine. The TV director has also been chosen since January and is working with Thomas Jolly's team. ---- * https://rmcsport.bfmtv.com/jeux-olympiques/jo-de-paris-2024-douze-tableaux-un-film-de-trois-heures-on-en-sait-plus-sur-le-spectacle-de-la-ceremonie-d-ouverture-sur-la-seine_AV-202402270044.html ** https://www.telerama.fr/theatre-spectacles/thomas-jolly-je-suis-triste-qu-on-ne-puisse-pas-partager-la-ceremonie-d-ouverture-avec-plus-de-public-7019339.php

This thread is a textbook example of AFs modus operandi and obstructions. An innocuous thread gets started A few posters make a few comments that contain some criticisms of the IOC AF gets wind and posts a few press releases from the IOC (usually repeats of posts he’s made in other threads) to ry to cover up the dissenting voices. Other posters reply, continue criticisms AF embarks on a campaign of making sure all such replies are immediately followed by posts of his own, again usually re-posting previously posted press releases or banal “comments”, all the while putting @ alerts to anybody who’s posted. Other posters eventually are bludgeoned into giving up and walking away in disgust and frustration. @GBModerator - I know you seem pretty disengaged from meddling in the board, but could you PLEASE at least post restrict AustralianFan? He’s become incredible disruptive to any free flowing discussions on the board - in fact actively tries to prevent it. In this thread alone, he’s reposting materials from other threads and repeating posts from here in two other threads - if that’s not disruptive spamming, I don’t know what is. He’s turning many members away from the board, and I’m constantly flooded with PM requsats complaint about him and asking to :”do something about him”. A post limit, as happened to TonyELovesArchtiecture (to whom AF’s very similar, through he should be mature enough to know better), even temporarily, would seem highly appropriate.

It is with great pleasure that I present to you my design for the Dublin 2036 Olympic Games The features behind my design include: The green and orange colours depict the colours of the Irish flag The logo is in the shape of a stylised d for Dublin and also has a shamrock style design. The logo itself honours the more traditional games logo types and also the traditional world renowned Irish culture. Whilst the logo is traditional in design the lettering of the font is more modern and depicts Dublins modern and youthful side. I believe that this logo encompsses and showcases the historical, cultural and modern sides of the Irish capital and present this logo to you for your votes.

It's official: I'm not a man of his word. I'm surprised that's it's only Robert that has realized that the EB effectively killed off the Swiss Olympic bid last Tuesday. Swiss Olympic's bid was a masterpiece in structuring something the Swiss people could accept. 1. Distributed venues: Would give the "whole" country a feeling of being a part of the games. This without potentially burdening any one town with too much needed infrastructure/accomodation. Further they avoided having any "single point of failure". If one town declined to participate, finding venues for one to three events elsewhere, and not necessarily together, would be manageable. Finding an entire new hub is much more difficult. 2. Financial Guarantees. The bid was structured expressedly to avoid asking for any government financial guarantee. Such a demand would more or less automatically trigger a referendum. Something Swiss Olympic was desperate to avoid. 3. Referendum. Referendums are bid killers, espcially in Switzerland. Even if opinion is favorable before the campaign all the negative aspects will be highlighed. In this case the whole Italian mess will be brought into light since it's going to be fresh in people's memory anyway. Now the EB requires that the bid will exposed to a referendum when the way Swiss Olympic had structured its bid could possibly have circumvented the need for one. So, I suggest that you start thinking about who's going to get the games in 2038. My money is on Beijing. Only for the purest of cynical reasons of course. A safe bet considering who's going to make the decision. As for the SOK bid. To be fair it wasn't Sweden that failed to get its act together. It was SOK. Sweden as such was never keen on the games. Neither was it really against. The dominant view was an overwhelming indifference. However, the 70% appears to correct as a figure. Only it's 70% out of some 35000 votes on the online question (on the sports pages on the biggest newspaper in Sweden) "Are you disappointed that Swden didn't get the games?" who say NO. Media in Swedish mostly just noted the decision and then went silent on the subject. If there's a gold medal to be handed out it's to SOK for their magnificent disregard of trying to enthuse Swedish opinion. SOK had even failed to hand in the formal application for government guarantees. The press secretary of the sports ministry said that had they done that last Tuesday the process would have been ready in April. And finally, as many have noted, it's rather stupid not to hava a back-up until the French pen is on the dotted line.

I don’t know whether I should be proud or embarrassed, but here goes my post number 20,000 on GamesBids. It took almost 18 years to get here - and it’s not like I’ve ever been a reticent poster - so I guess it’s quite a mark. I think I’ve earned a self-indulgent thread of my own.It seems I’m only the second member to ever reach the milestone, but I doubt I’ll ever be able to catch up with @baron-pierreIV’s 37,000 plus posts (and counting). Thanks to all the friends I’ve made here - too many to name - who’ve stimulated some great conversations, debates and furious typings. And I guess thanks also to the many adversaries I’ve had here who’ve provoked furious reactions and heated exchanges. I hope we’re all still at it come Paris 2024 and beyond.

Yes, they can play a bloopers tape of all the minorities in the Commonwealth he offended. Might be a long ceremony.

I feel like the bold should go without saying, but also seems like that needs to be made clear. What you think the ceremony "needs" is based on your personal interpretation. The people running the Olympics know who their audience is. Suffice it to say, they likely don't think like you. So lets break this down point by point... The last daytime ceremony was Nagano in 1998 and that was for the benefit of American TV. Ditto with Seoul in 1988. Sunshine is friendlier for the crowd in the stands. But this is very much a TV event those days. The visuals look better at night which is why nearly every ceremony in the last 35 years has been after dark. Bear makes a good point that the 2028 opening will likely start during the day to suit NBC. It will without the slightest doubt end after sunset. The visual from 1984 of the flame making its way up to the cauldron would have been 100 times more dramatic if it was dark out. The flaming arrow in Barcelona. Cathy Freeman in Sydney. Li Ning in Beijing. All work so much better at night. We may never see a daytime ceremony again in our lifetimes. We'll see what tricks they have with the roof at SoFi. They'll make it work. Vancouver 2010 was in an enclosed stadium. Sochi 2014 had a roof. It's not as big a deal as you want it to be. The flagpoles.. seriously? There might not be another person on the planet who thinks that's something worth thinking about. The doves are a relic of the past. Watch animal rights groups get in a tizzy if that's suggsted. Not worth the trouble. The Olympic Hymn isn't herioc enough for you? LOL And Bear said it well.. if a choir makes sense, then sure. It is not a "need" Not to rehash what Rols said, but you could be a lot more well-received here if you didn't come off as some sort of spamming troll. Having a strong opinion about something like flagpoles all well and good. But try engaging in discussion rather than just making the same point over and over again and then dropping YouTube clips as if we have enough time on our hands to indulge your whims

I was just thinking yesterday that it’s a saving grace at least that you don’t have premium. You’re insufferable enough now

I can’t in good conscience watch this. It may not mean anything in the scheme of things, but I’ll be doing my own personal boycott - the first Olympic ceremony I’ll miss since 1976. I’m disheartened to see so many getting hyped for this grotesque perversion by the CCP.

What is it with you and gay slurs? Internalized homophobia? As a straight guy (even as one who likes cute animals) it would never even occur to me to say something like that.

Only mistake the IOC made (with hindsight admittedly) with Pyeongchang is going there 4 years late. This in 2014, & Sochi wouldn't have happened, & it's not a big leap to think that we'd now be watching Munich 2018 - handing off to Oslo on Sunday week. To be fair to IOC, I don't think anyone could've seen in 2007 just how bad it would get, & at the time it felt like a good, positive step, but as it turned out, picking Sochi over PC ended up being possibly the worst decision they ever made.

Lol, isn't it rich that you're being called a narcissistic troll, when it's that you-know-who troll that has multiple, alias accounts to lick, I mean like, their OWN posts. Not only is that narcissistic & trollish, but also desperate & pathetic. Yeah, if I had a dollar every time I (& others) have heard that one, too. lol

Hiii I'm pretty new to this community (I literally just joined yesterday) but ive been fancying myself in the world of logos for a while now and decided, why not join this comp? so may I introduce: My Dublin 2036 and Alpes Francaises 2030 logos!

I'm still very much alive. Thanks for checking.

and now i finally have time to present to you all, my DUBLIN 2036 emblem: Showing the Dublin skyline and the iconic cliffs of Ireland, this emblem is a representation of Ireland's urban and rural life, unifying the entire nation for the world's greatest sporting event. The people are embracing this emblem, and it can be seen on T-Shirts: Street art: And of course the official Games Poster: There is also a Welcome variant to be used for tourism promotion for the city of Dublin in the build up to the Games, which can now be seen on billboards across the world: for yoshi / sir rols, if you need a higher quality image of my entry for the voting period here it is:

What a load of unfounded right-wing political nonsense and conspiracy theories from bollock and lollick @StefanMUC @Gonzo

"ultra left wokeism" wow i didn't realize this was a far right forum

What "debating style"? They clearly have NONE. All they incessantly do around here is spam the same houlier-than-thou new-norm garbage over & over again. And heaven forbid that anyone disagrees with any of it. It's total characteristic of narcissism. All they're interested in is wrapping their tentacles around this website with their tripe (like a certain you-know-who has done with a certain political party) & suck the life right out of it. I really don't understand why anything hasn't been done by now with all the constant trolling & spamming that they do. I mean that sportlighting other GB's handle (what was it, team Blake) was limited in posting for their innocuous behavior (& I'd say that was/is much more tame than this case has been). Some type of similar action here already, at the very least, would seem to be warranted for the sake of these boards in general.

The Sir Rols Nairobi and Reykjavik Logo Bid teams would like to wish Season’s Greetings and Goodwill to all participants and spectators. Happy Christmas!

But it’s at least adding to a “crowded field” of contenders…

My partner and I did the same just a couple weeks ago! Some of our takeaways: -If any ceremony fit the word "extravaganza" it's Sydney. -I forgot just how huge that ceremony was--it recalibrated my thoughts on Beijing being clearly "the biggest." Sydney felt on-par. That Olympic band was insane! -I forgot how long and awkward that glitch actually was. Still, what a beautiful concept. -It furthered my thoughts that fireworks are nice but overrated and best left for the Closing. Sydney had "just right" use of fireworks. Save the money for costume design, lighting, and props. -By the end my partner and I were both like, "another song?!" Just one-too-many 'centerpiece' songs. -Any conversation of "best-ever" that leaves out Sydney would be crazy-talk. There're aspects that haven't aged as well, but one cannot deny the triumph of sheer human effort, precision, and layers of ideas put into it.

It's the ghost of a stadium construction worker.

It’s taken me a while, but I finally got some image editing working again (good news for you @yoshi, you able to start polls now but I may be able to help with the grids). Aside from that, it also means I can update the Winners’ Roll. There a bit too unwieldy now for a signature, but definitely worth having up in the comps. Ladies and Gentlemen, here’s the Logo Comp Roll of Honour:

Have spoken with my cousin, who has now returned home. he is badly beaten but is now home with my Aunt and Uncle in St. Petersburg.

Oh, and that was my 3000th post here, congrats to myself

Lip-sync girl as a grown up?

Couldn't watch it live due to work, sadly, but i've just finished watching it. All I can say is wow.....what a missed opportunity the Olympics had to make a good opening ceremony. The Paralympic one, while still having an unavoidable simplicity due to the current times we're living, was much funnier, much tender and gave a message of hope which is what the games are about. Also, you can tell the ceremonies team of the Paralympics had much less issues since they kept a coherent theme at all times (Para Airport, the one winged airplane story), while in the Olympics you can tell from a mile all the last minute changes/cancellations/quarrels the organizers had with a lot of mashed up segments which made no sense. The people who solely blamed Covid for the Opening Ceremony of last month being awful have zero facts to back up their arguments anymore. Congratulations to the Paralympic Organizing Comittee for their wonderful work. This is how you do a Covid era ceremony.

Understand something about that though.. The Summer Olympics are a once every 4 years event. That means at most only 25 countries can host an Olympics in an entire century, and that's if there are no repeat hosts. I know the idea of smaller nations hosting an Olympics is alluring, but given the amount of money and resources they require to put together, it's not always such a wise idea to try and put that together. I don't want to imagine an Olympics being held in Qatar. It's a bad idea for so many reasons and I'm happy the IOC has flatly rejected the notion of Doha putting a bid in.

Of course he is - he’s been spitting his dummie for the past 7 years. Quite honestly, PC doesn’t have to do much beyond getting through the 16 days unscathed to already start to repair some of the damage done to the WOGs reputation that Sochi’s big spending did.

Here is my logo for LA2028. Instead of dumping the bid concept and starting afresh I have decided to link to the bid with a sun icon. The bid said #followthesun and the competitors and the visitors will do just that. The logo's beams are made up of past hosts highlighting the journey that the Olympics has got to to get to 2028. The word mark is then in blue to represent the sun rising behind the ocean. A new dawn for LA and a new dawn for the Olympics. All other support material can be found here. https://www.behance.net/gallery/56031033/LA2028-Branding

LOL this has always struck me as amusing in the first place. The regional council of mayors were like "We thought the Olympics were a good way to bring necessary PT upgrades to the region", as if thats a thing. I know transport planners in QLD who were fuming at it (I work in policy in that area). If you want upgrades, advocate for them on their own merit -don't use them as bait for something that will take funds away from the BAU services that are actually needed. And yes, the Brisbane Metro/CRR were going ahead regardless of the Olympics.

[ ignore @krow who is the biggest most negative, narcissistic troll hiding behind a keyboard on gamesbids.com ] ______________________________________________________________ >> On with the Round 2 Nice 2030 Voting !

It's that exciting time of the year again! Here's my submission for the Dublin 2036 games, will publish my submission to the winter games soon

I see someone has been seduced by Hamas propaganda. There is no apartheid in Israel. Jews and Arabs live peacefully side by side and both are allowed to thrive. As opposed to in Gaza where the leadership chooses to let their people suffer. The population in Palestine has been steadily increasing for decades. How is that a genocide? Fortunately for those who like playing the whataboutism game and making false equivalences, we have an article to cover that topic for you.. IOC's ban on Russia cannot be compared with Israel situation

Yep - why should NSW or WA taxpayers foot the bill for the 2026 event that they all passed on?

Shame more like - whilst he and his cronies where partying and breaking their own COVID rules, he maj had to sit alone at her husband of over 70 years funeral. That man is nothing but a monster - who plays the fool, but is cunning and as evil as other world dictators.

10 years ago, eh? Jeez time flies. Time to look over my old albums from the games. To start, here’s me on my first day at London 2012

The Royal family are a group of inbred leeches.....if you want rude, I will crank it up!

(sigh) You need to get out of this mindset that what worked half a century ago should be the template for what to do now. We know that's what you want. But you fail to understand the notion of how people consume the ceremonies now than they did in the 1970s. You can wax nostalgic all you want about the good old days. It just doesn't sell to a much younger generation. You can bemoan that all you want, but that's what the 2028 ceremonies organizers need to consider. Not what 1 random contrarian in an internet forum thinks would suit his tastes

they should do what they should have done all along: ban "ROC" and let individual athletes compete under the olympic flag. of course they were too spineless to uphold the original 4 year ban so...

They found a swimmer frozen in the ice....

Great to see you here F! Thanks for starting this up. At least one tradition is still active! Hmm. What to say? I’ve been thinking about it a lot the past few days, but it’s still difficult. I don’t think I’m able to break them down as usual, or give ratings. These will forevermore be the Covid Games. A special circumstances. They’ll always have an asterisk next to them. They were not the joyous, celebratory, fun and quirky games the Japanese or we anticipated. They were not the utter disaster the alarmists, far more than usual, predicted. They didn’t hit any heights of greatness, but they in no way were a flop or failure. They just were. I think we all feel sorry they Japanese didn’t get the games they deserved or experience the joys of being host to the world’s biggest party. We’ll always wistfully wonder what might have been. But I think it’s important that they actually went ahead, despite our doubts on the wisdom of doing so right up to the opening ceremony. On ceremonies I won’t say anything. The ceremony fanatics have already said all there is to say to oblivion. The circumstances of Tokyo 2020 meant the laser focus was on nothing but the sports, and it reminded me just how much fun watching all these athletes from so many countries in so many different and novel sports can be. I had a blast again and really enjoyed them. Loved most of the new sports (only skateboard street was a bit underwhelming, and surfing wasn’t as picturesque as I thought it would be - I look forward to seeing surfing come into its own in Tahiti!). I suppose, to me, the only thing the sports lacked was a breakout star or legend. Maybe it would have been Simone Biles, except…. . But there was no Phelps or Bolt to leave their mark. I guess that while Rio was the crowning moment for the last generation of superstars, Tokyo is now the first step for the next generation, who’ll write their legacy in Paris and LA. For Australia, and for me personally, these were a Great Games! Our best ever gold haul, tied with Athens. Our swimmers came good, more than good, and we got some really special moments from the likes of Jess Fox in the kayak, Logan Martin in BMX Freestyle and Keegan Palmer in the skateboarding. We’ve been longing for a games like these since Athens and got it finally. And we got it a a perfect time - we are in a grim lockdown, a captive audience in need of some positive vibes, watching a successful Games for Oz in our own time zone. I suspect these have rated through the roof here and will have inspired a future generation of Aussie Olympians. Just perfect or us. The vaccine we really needed for the Covid blues. While on our local coverage… I have to give kudos to Channel 7, and the 7+ App. Meant I could, on my TV, switch to the OBS feeds of any sport. Finally I was able to flick through, watch anything I wanted, and catch up on sports I rarely get to see, even in highlights. Technology at work at its best. I really missed the GamesBids Games Carnival. I used to be such good fun and became part of my traditional Games experience. It’s a pity the board has declined so much, but nice to see so many of us at least look in. Most of us have moved on and bidding just isn’t really bidding any more. My heart’s not in it any more, but I’ll still keep looking in, at least to keep zapping the fake passports spam. Hope we’ll all bump into each other again come Paris. We’ll always have Paris. Ah, Paris! I really look forward to those games. Sooooo hope they run like a classic games and meet all expectations. Would love to attend, if circumstances permit. So, well done Tokyo! You didn’t drop the baton and while it wasn’t a party, we still had fun.

Did you know that Thomas Bach was Olympic Champion in Fencing, 1976?

I promised there'd be Kylie, so here she is: I also promised we'd be in Melbourne, but you voted us straight to the destination - welcome to Brisbane proper, and to the legendary Gabba: But who will be so lucky (lucky, lucky, lucky) to win the comp? To find out, let's welcome another Aussie legend in her own right, live from her Melbourne mansion - the gladiolus queen herself, DAME EDNA! Edna: G'day possums! It's been wonderful to see all your designs, but only one can win - I don't have much time here, I have to perform the royal duties that are expected of one, but I do have the pleasure of announcing that the only one of these logos with the glamour and sophistication worthy of yours truly is the one designed by that great gladiolus... VICTORIAN! Yoshi: Thank you Dame Edna, you may now resume your important royal business. Yes, once again, we only needed one round to elect a champion, and although we're in Queensland, that champion is @Victorian! I believe this is also his first participation, meaning we've got two debutant winners The result of the only round was as follows: A: 1 B: 0 C: 1 D: 6 E: 2 A clear majority for another one-and-done - don't like voting much, do you :p And that's it for the 14th annual comp, once again thank you to all our designers, who made this a strong field, whatever the landslide results may say. And of course thanks to all the voters too - not gonna lie, once again, I thought we'd only get 2 of each :p Particular thanks as always to @Sir Rols for the images, the polls, the help, and the closing act idea, not to mention @paul who extracted the images from imgur which let Rols do the grids. This might be a rare occasion where you didn't win, but you were still invaluable And of course congrats to our winner @Victorian again - plus our Milan champ @Jon Will Chambers ! Finally, before the 4X all round, our closer as suggested by Rols himself - Eurovision bendy-pole-whisperer and Brisbane girl Kate Miller-Heidke, with a song written specially* to celebrate 14 years of logo comp fun. THANK YOU AND GOODNIGHT! *not written specifically...

Can you guys give it a rest with the GIF's and slurs? This isn't a fight anyone is going to win. If you want to debate something, debate it. Don't use ad hominem attacks. If you just want to vent your vitriol go play War Thunder or something instead.

These Games were a wonderful pick me up after the organizational mess known as Rio. I shouldn't be surprised because the winter games always seem far more enjoyable than their big brother. I think that is because, at least in the case of American athletes, the winter athletes generally are far more likable than the summer games with its fair share of egomaniacs. These Games were impeccably organized and well-staged. As for empty seats, there were many empty seats at Seoul in 1988 as well as many of the World Cup matches staged in Korea in 2002, maybe the tickets were overpriced or maybe Koreans just do not flock to events unless there is a decent shot of Korean success. The Games also looked terrific (well, other than the bare patches of ground, but we saw that in Vancouver and Sochi, and we'll see them in 2022.). The venues were nicely dressed and that made for a festive looking event. The television presentation by OBS was first-rate and the camera work in many cases was beyond expectation. Thirty nations won medals. Belgium, Hungary, New Zealand, Spain, Liechtenstein, nice to see you back on the table after being gone for quite some time. his was the third straight Games that we had no first-timer, and I have to struggle to think who the next one might be. I hope we will not see the numerous changes that we have in recent Games. Great to see the American gold breakthroughs in cross-country and curling. The talent on display at the Games was astounding, It is fascinating to how some of the sports have evolved over the past decade. As usual, it was the athletes who stole the stage and shoved all the extraneous garbage aside. Thanks to the athletes for reminding us what the Games are really about and why we, even if we do not agree with the people who run the show, should give the competitors our rapt attention and support. I've been an Olympic junkie since 1980, and, even after 38 years, it is never easy to see the Games come to an end. There is always a certain emptiness for me when the emotional investment into the Games is gone. I will try something different though as I have saved most of the medal ceremonies on my DVR and I will watch a few each day before work just to get my day off to a positive beginning. It was a very enjoyable few weeks. I am glad that the Games have helped to restore some of our members' enthusiasm for the Games. I've missed a lot of you.

Okay @Tulsa, are you almost over your two week, sour grapes tantrum? It’s been quite childish at times but, hey, if that’s what floats your boat, and it has added to the board activity, so I guess it’s been worthwhile in your mind, even if I doubt it’s changed even one person’s opinions. To address your original proposition - no, these have not been the worst WOGs in history, you’ll be disappointed to hear (if not accept). In all, they’ve been pretty good, well organised, lacking in major scandals, engendered a bit of positive and hopeful news out of the Korean Peninsula after a year of anything but, been more focussed on the events rather than extraneous issues and at the end more positive in spirit than many. Was it one of he best ever? Well, that’s always going to be a subjective call. Myself, I’d rate them as modesty successful but no Lillehammer (I guess I’ve just preculuded my post in the “verdict on the games” thread). Others may/will have differing opinions. Anyway, you’ve been hung up on this notion that certain countries, notably Korea and China, just aren’t fit to host a winter games and should never be given that honour. What utter arrogant bullish!t! The games belong to the world, and anyone with the means and sheer physical and geographic capability are entitled to host. They do not belong to a select group of “approved” countries. The WOGs themselves are already constrained to a smaller pool of possible hosts because of geographical and climatic requirements. But to follow your logic, that pool should be made even smaller to suit your offensively patronising cultural prerequisites. Yes, traditional winter sports countries in North America and Europe will always make good winter games hosts - and they will continue to do so for the lion’s share of WOGs in the future. But it’s important, even essential, that the less traditional locals - the Koreas and Chinas - also get their chance at times too. They need to be able to have the chance to embrace the Olympic spirit, to be exposed to the winter sports, to be given the chance to show off their societies and landscapes and hopefully be inspired to get more enthused by winter sports. And the WOGs can indeed achieve this - Japan really wasn’t a traditional winter sports country before its first WOGs, but now I see in recent posts of yours that it’s been promoted to your personal “WOG-worthy” club. It’s similar to the summer games - i would be easy to jut spread them around a small selection of advanced and venue-rich cities and nations (*cough, cough, Paris and LA) and never venture away from them ever. And, yes, there’s a legitimate debate to be had over the merits and social responsibility of less-developed and affluent cities and countries, like Rio or somewhere in Africa, hosting such an expensive extravaganza, but at the end of the day it is important and essential that they are allowed or even encouraged to share the spirit of the Olympics by hosting when their circumstances responsibly permit them. To specifically address some of your recurrent “points” of the past fortnight. Let’s take audience crowds. Okay, yeah, there were empty seats at times and not everything was packed to capacity or bursting. But that happens at EVERY games, even the most successful ones, and in winter games, even in your beloved and winter sports successful approved Western European host cities. There’s a lot of reasons why his is so - sponsor seats not being taken up, prices, travel costs etc. But there also were large contingents of enthused and respectful locals at many events, particularly those that they hold dear or had good chances in (and that’s natural, and again to be expected of any hosts). There were also decent numbers and contingents of spectators from around the world coming in to cheer their teams. And as was mentioned in other threads as well, while large crowds certainly can lift a good games to something truly special, at the end of the day it’s not the priority issue to decide on the success of a games or not. Particularly when for the overwhelming bulk of the world’s population, the games are experienced through television. The Koreans embrace of the games was average, but certainly not dire and certainly not games-wrecking. And onto climate. You’ve been railing against fake snow an barren landscape. What I saw on screen was constant mention of extreme cold and good snow cover of the venues amidst attractive wintry landscapes around. The biggest problem was a bit of wind in the first week disrupting some events. All games, and particularly the winter games, are hostage to the weather. PyeongChang wasn’t the first to use, or even the most drastically in need of using, artificial snow. Some of your beloved approved tradional hosts have had far more problems with their snow cover. In all, PyeongChang had far less snow and weather issues than many previous winter hosts. When the campaign to choose the 2018 host was in full swing I was firmly, for personal and emotional reasons, hoping for Munich. But that was not to be - que sera sera. I’m glad now, and think it was good an important, that they chose PyeongChang. For all the reasons mentioned above, I think it was essential that the IOC spread the winter games beyond the NA-Europe winter sports insider’s club. Maybe, to make a tidier list of host cities, it could have been four years earlier or four years later, bu it definitely had to happen. And Korea certainly didn’t drop the ball (or puck or whatever). Anyway, I guess for you it’s back to four years grumbling bitterly under your rock. Have fun. See you in Beijing 2022, I guess, for Round 2 of your dummy spit.