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I have to confess, I do get a bit of schadenfreude watching the debacle Bach ravels himself into - maybe he’ll retire early to foist the mess onto his successor. But it’s so typically Bach to play the fence sitter and still manage to piss off everyone in the process. He provokes the west into publically labelling him Russia’s pet, while his Moscow mates still accuse him of being a NATO puppet. Just let your balls drop Thomas, and you might actually be able to leave the job with some semblance of a legacy. Meanwhile, it’s the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) who are emerging as the rogue mavericks of the Olympic movement. It’s them (and the AFC in football) that are playing kissy-kissy with Vlad now he’s found himself with no friends in Europe bar Lukashenkostan. And that shouldn’t be a surprise. It’s stuffed full of potential mates - China, Iran, the Stans - even Saudi Arabia, the “ally” the West is embarrassed to acknowledge and which only pays lip service to the West because it hates Iran more. And cash counts in the OCA - surely the only continental Olympic council where petro dollars can buy the Winter Asiad for the world’s most pre-eminent hot desert fiefdom. I’m glad Oz and NZ seem to have deleted the OCA off its Tinder contacts.

also i am begging the ICC to stop with their cricket in LA nonsense... the sport isnt popular here and with a limited athlete quota in place id rather the spots go to a sport that will actually bring in attendance and money

Now that Brisbane 2032 has it’s own sub-forum, it’s probably time to start populating it by moving some discussions to dedicated threads. So let’s start with the possible/probable centrepiece of the games - the Gabba. While it’s still expected to be the main games aand ceremonies stadium, and it seemed all sewn up, at the present, it’s status is not totally secure:

Thanks @Bear for all the information you gave me. I attended for 3 days and watched 7 events. I also had a lot of fun with the activities on Main Street, and doing the bobsled ride at Mt. Van Hoevenberg and seeing the Olympic Museum. The Closing Ceremonies weren't quite what I expected (no performers dressed up in costumes or nations marching in - I believe they did that for the Opening Ceremonies though). Also I wish they would post all the event videos on FISU.tv, because I'd like to watch one event again, and for another event I was on TV, but so far they have only posted a few videos and I'm doubtful they will post anymore.

I was glad when Japan abandoned that monstrosity by Zaha Hadid.

Personally, I’ll be happy if the Gabba stays a modest, unpretentious venue, rather than become a grandiose vanity design a la the Bird’s Nest. That would make the statement that it’s the people rather than the concrete, that makes the games.

The design for the Gabba hasn't even been made public yet.

Actually, Oslo would've been the "perfect" host for 2022, had the IOC not been such a prima donna with their list of 'demands', & then Norway sent them packing in the end. Or Munich, had they not bailed out early on. At the time, SLC would've been considered too soon since 2002 anyway. But if we were talking between a hypothetical 2022 vote between SLC, Beijing & A-town, then yes, SLC would've been the obvious choice there.

Just scrap separate male and female events and have it mixed... equal pay, equal opportunities, equal rules and equal sports = none of this issue.

Since Sydney’s Allianz got brought up… LOL! More a Sydney thing. The Allianz upgrade was part of a big stadium package announced by a previous State government that would have also included knocking down and rebuilding the even-younger Olympic stadium and a few other big suburban stadium upgrades like Parramatta Stadium. It didn’t go over as popular and as much a vote winner as they had hoped. After an outcry, the Olympic stadium rebuild was scrapped in favour of some upgrading, and the suburban stadiums were put on an indefinite back burner (Parramatta still happening, and I think Penrith’s getting a new one). Allianz survived because the NRL (Rugby League) and the ARU (Rugby Union) have the financial and political clout in NSW to ensure they get more bells and whistles than the 1988-vintage stadium offered. That’s a bit misleading, including the satellite image. A large portion of the immediate surrounds are two large ground level car parks that could easily be consolidated underground or a single multi-story facility and Driver Ave is more an access road to the stadiums and the car parks than a major thoroughfare. The UTS building is just a small sub-campus, probably sports medicine. The area itself is also just the one corner - the three stadium zone - of a much, much larger parkland belt. The Moore Park parklands, immediately adjacent across Driver Avenue are frequently partly used as overflow cark parking for major events. The Moore Park parkland itself extends across to a golf course, the ES Marks athletics field, then Centennial Park and on to Randwick Racecourse. It’s actually quite a vast green belt. The green belt itself was bordered by a lot of aging industrial-type zones that in recent years have buen redeveloped as large medium-to-high density apartment developments (ie: Meriton-ised) that would have been perfect for, say, an Olympic Village development. This would have been the centrepiece of a 1996 games if Sydney had, (a) won the domestic bid and (b) gone on to win the IOC bid. As a lifelong inner city Sydneysider myself, I’m a little disappointed we didn’t go the same path for 2000 - it would have been a more city-centric games closer to more postcard picturesque Sydney. Homebush was more a political savvy choice to provide a precinct closer to the sprawling western suburbs population bubble. You forgot Rugby Union (though I accept you southerners often forget the difference between Union and League) - it’s the home of the NSW Waratahs and the ARU headquarters are next door. The NRL, as far as I know, still base themselves in Philip Street in the CBD.

Adidas presents to us its new 2023 Women's World Cup Official Game Ball--introducing the Oceaunz (with a nod to Australia's AU and New Zealand's NZ at the end obviously). From Sportslogos.net: "Covering its white pearlescent base is a pattern of blue and green shapes “inspired by the unique Australasian landscape, with visuals nodding to the vast mountains of New Zealand and Australia’s connection with the Indian Ocean." Co-designed by indigenious artists (Aboriginal artist Chern’ee Sutton for the Australian patterns while those representing New Zealand created by Māori artist Fiona Colliswith cultural markings. Both also created the 2023 WWC logo.) Good looking ball--with connected ball technology of course: At the Sydney Harbour Somewhere in New Zealand (don't know exactly where) https://news.sportslogos.net/2023/01/24/adidas-unveils-match-ball-for-2023-womens-world-cup/soccer/

Global Athletes not mincing their words here: https://twitter.com/globalathletehq/status/1618310843246215168?s=46&t=6k7u6lXGIbD0dKKZ5E5RaA

Own goal by? Zelensky for demanding this and getting reprimanded by the IOC? Certainly not. By the Lausanne crowd? Oh definitely. Once they let Russia and Lukashia back in, much of Eastern and Northern Europe goes out the front door. Macron also knows this, and he has no interest in it happening, so I suspect for now he‘ll play Fencing 1976 with the same empty rethoric that Bach is used to himself.

Possibly still way to early to identify any particular favourites for the honour, but time enough to start nominating names to the list. Speculate away! I’m guessing Peter Bol is out of the running now…

Hi @GBModerator, I think you made a lot of people happy by finally creating dedicated sub-forums for upcoming games such as LA and Brisbane. On behalf of all, thank you heaps! just two little glitches (that I’ve noticed so far). The sub-forum you created for Gangwon 2024 is actually titled Gangwon 2020. And the section for ticketing and accommodation in the Brisbane sub-forum is titled Brisbane 2028. Both minor things, but hopefully easy to fix.

The important questions, however, are: How far part should the flagpoles be, and should the anthems be sung by choirs?