Go Europe

They could set another record and reuse the same cauldron that maybe the more environmental thing to do but I doubt they will go for the “green” choice and recycle.

So far there have been some surprises and commentators say that there maybe more as few international championships happened lately. So let’s see!

The Flame was great, however Heroes live for ever was for me one of the highlights of the Sydney ceremony. Actually all the music on that opening ceremony was great. We need a nice Olympic Anthem again, last ones I can recall are Heroes and Amigos para siempre (Barcelona 1992)!

Well there was Almaty as well and the late dropouts of preferable choices (e.g. Oslo) etc. Furthermore, the 2028 as well as the 2032 Games allocations were strongly “curated” by IOC (This has nothing to do with the worthiness of the bids, I do believe they are good solid choices, however, over and above IOC wanted to safeguard the next few games in hands they consider safe. It remains to be proven if it is the case, although I believe it is).

Not exactly by current standards, both the distance of the top seats to the pitch as well as the exposed seating to the elements are not ideal. Nevertheless, it was/is an iconic venue. Stronger memories from USA 94 were large venues always full of passionate spectators! Looking forward to United 2026!!

A quick question apologies if previously mentioned. When the combined piano and Kabuki performance took place was the camera supposed to be directed at the piano for most of the time or was that a mistake? We got only a few seconds to a minute or so from the the performer and most of the piano performance but this did not make so much sense?

it feels like since Rio, IOC has consistently veered towards what are considered “safe hands” allocations (all Olympics since 2018 are given to countries that have previously and successfully organised games South Korea, Japan, China, France, USA, Italy, Australia. It may be sometime before they attempt again a “new borders” allocation.

It looks nice especially the bright red colour. However from the image it is unclear how far down the curved part the flame will travel. Hopefully they have sorted this out and tested it under different wind conditions to avoid accidents.

Overall, it felt weird. Some parts definitely gave me COVID PTSD and overall it was a somber ceremony. It was really an impossible task for them and IOC to combine the fact that this is meant to be a celebration of the world and the young athletes with the fact that so many deaths and lives have been changed for ever the last two years. Overall the balance was significantly skewed towards the memorial than to a celebration but I feel that the victories over the next days may change the atmosphere and the closing ceremony should be more optimistic and celebratory.

In the case of Athens it is not very fair to judge the Games under the circumstances in view of the very difficult financial condition that Greece is. But lets put some things straight 1. Organisation wise the games were successful much more than some of the preceding games wanting it or not. 2. The opening ceremony was an artistic event and as such, not everyone will like it or has to like it for that matter. It may have appealed more to people that have a specific background and specific educational background (and you can see than sometimes in the nationality of the commentators) while others failed to connect with it because they could not, or the creators failed to make them, understand the message. It was not some much what was shown it was more a message that the artist tried to present. It was not the technology or tricks shown it were the message. And believe it or not the whole Opening ceremony had a single story to tell which was unique in that respect compared to any other before or since. 3. The problems of the post-game use of the venues started long before Greece was in any financial constraint and just mirrored a certain disrespect to public property and funds that the Greek politicians and society has developed in the last decades and still, unfortunately has.

Also there are still some people secretly hoping for Qatar 2022 not to happen and therefore this thread to remain as it is...

10,000 Tennis centre according to international tennis federation site among others

All Olympic bids are just unpredictable, in this case if the Istanbul unrest was a week before the election and a nuclear leak in Tokyo the day before as well, maybe we would be talking of Madrid 2020 today! This however, is a too desperate and expensive technique to get the Olympics "try until you are at the correct point at the correct time as the only viable alternative". On the other hand if there was zero chance for them to get it why were they shortlisted to beggin with?

This has probably discussed somewhere before, but why Durban and not Cape Town? I think CT will have better odds!

Madrid 2024 It made sense 4 years ago, well guess what it still makes sense!

London has organised three times and the first two do not qualify as bids really given there were no many alternatives!

I think, I saw one of those ladies, is the wife of the PM.

TOKYO OMG

No it is just in order of appearance

Just 12 plus around 10 minutes left...

Istanbul is closer than ever to their dream! Actually it is all decided we just have to wait...

Ok If you get this one too, I promise not to disagree with you again!

Respect !

Mathematically Tokyo is favoured, but in real life people can change their votes!