Brekkie Boy

Actually an interesting design - though looks completely impractical. Was it to be carved out of a mountain or something?

Thanks

I always felt the London 2012 plan should have focused a bit more than it did on the potential of a further bid in the not too distant future, though always thought that would be the 2040s rather than 2030s. Personally I think 2036 is a bit too soon given there is only one other European host in between, but get the points made earlier that it might be more viable post pandemic than it would be usually. Agree too that Brisbane should bring cities like Manchester back into the equation, although I think politically it would be a tough sell to build new Olympic venues up north with those in London being relatively new, and perhaps goes against the Agenda 2020 plans too. Stadium wise though with the ceremonial stadium not necessarily being the athletics stadium could the option of using either Old Trafford or The Etihad for the Ceremonies (and probably rugby 7s and the football finals) and a smaller venue for the athletics be a possibility - possibly upgrading the Old Trafford Cricket Ground to increase capacity (currently 26k). I'd quite like to see Rome get them to be honest. I think we can rule out Berlin and probably any German city for 2036 as I don't think they'll want the reference back to 1936 - this is why it's so frustrating there wasn't even proper dialogue, never mind an open and fair bidding process, for 2032, as by denying Germany a bid there has probably ruled them out until the late 2040s at the earliest now.

Still annoyed Ireland didn't get 2023 with them going back to France after just 16 years, but as always seems to be the case that's all down to backroom deals and I suspect had they given the WRU a couple of games in Cardiff the result may have been different. Would love to see Italy or Ireland get one of those and guess it's between Australia and South Africa for the others. I think Covid may focus their minds on more familar hosts, especially as both Ireland and Italy hosting have more risk attached than France or England. As much as they should try and spread the game I just don't think it would resonate in the US yet in the way it did in Japan, so if they did look to the Americas I'd rather see Argentina get the first opportunity.

I wasn't keen on such a quick return to Australia but with Brisbane having the 2032 Olympics that probably rules out 2030/34, so 2026 almost has to happen. I think if Canada want the centenial games in 2030 they'll get them as realistically that might be the only time they bid, then a UK games in 2034 before returning to Australia in 2038 I suspect. Although the future of the games always looks dicey if they get 2026 right they could potentially secure the next 20 or so years of the games. Agree with the above post about Singapore though - they've said in the past they couldn't afford them but they can't be much bigger than the Youth Olympics or SEA Games to host and they'd be a very reliable new host for the games. Would love to see them return to New Zealand too but the time has probably past for Christchurch to be at a centre of a bid.

Hi. I've been drawing a blank on this but having looked at the sadly unsuccessful Winter Olympics bid of 2026 I saw that Stockholm did bid for the summer games of 2004, but their bid book seems unavailable. All I've found is a promo video which doesn't really detail the bid (or sell it that well TBH). To be honest though I've just got one question - what were their plans for the main Olympic Stadium? With the 1912 stadium only holding around 15,000 that couldn't have been the main value, and I suspect it's historic nature meant knocking it down and replacing it would not have been considered. I'm guessing any plans may have evolved into what became the Friends Arena, which opened in 2009.

Covid could have provided the perfect excuse to move the 2022 games to 2024 and then take advantage of them being the Cenetenial Winter Games.

Agree - although I think once they got going the Japanese got behind their athletes and the event a bit more ultimately through no fault of their own the Olympics isn't something they'll want in the next few years. Perhaps had they had a fair bidding process for 2032 there might have been an argument for discussions with Tokyo for the summer games to return in 2036 so they could put on the show they intended too and claw back some of the investment in venues from 2020, but with the games four years earlier being in Brisbane that is highly unlikely.

Olympic coverage should always be based around your home nation expectations, but recognise the key Olympic moments too. The Eurosport coverage has highlighted how important domestic focused coverage is - the extra channels they broadcast in the UK were clearly intended far more for a European audience than focusing on what Brits would deem to be the most important sports. It's a shame that NBC's low ratings will frame these games for many as a failure when really they've exceeded expectations during these difficult times and been a much needed tonic. NBC's ratings are far more a reflection of their broadcasting strategy than the success of the games - it's laughable that even though they now broadcast everything live via Peacock and other channels they still think it's acceptable to hold events until primetime and then wonder why people don't watch an event they knew the outcome of 12 hours earlier. The talking point in Europe of course has been the Discovery deal - and no doubt about it the BBC paniced themselves into signing such a bad deal, giving away exclusive 2018/20 coverage, not to mention £120m, in order to get access to 2022/24, resulting in just main channel coverage and one additional stream. Meanwhile France TV, who were in exactly the same position, did a deal which gave them full streaming rights while ARD/ZDF in Germany were able to show ten streams of coverage. The soulless presentation on Eurosport though highlights how good and how important the BBC covering the Olympics are. They probably missed the ability to stream events they were covering live, but having to dip out of, more than showing extra sport - even one or two extra streams might have made the difference. I'm really hoping the unfavourable time zones of both LA 2028 and Brisbane 2032 put Discovery off bidding for the next cycle.

Good to see a significant increase of coverage from the OBS. Some of those missing are a bit odd - Fencing must be one of the easiest to film you'd have thought, and similarly Taekwondo is an odd exception given Judo has long got coveraged. Good to see C4 adding More4 to their coverage plans, using it mainly for team sports with athletics, swimming and cycling likely to dominate the C4 coverage. A shame they don't use 4Seven as well, but maybe by Paris they will. They'll air the 16 streams online but no word if they'll be available via All4 so you can watch on your TV. More details here - unlike the BBC they will have some live presentation in Tokyo with overnight coverage, along with the 5pm highlights show. The daytime coverage and 7.30pm highlights come from Leeds, with The Last Leg in it's London studio, which given the time difference probably works best anyway. https://www.svgeurope.org/blog/headlines/tokyo-leeds-london-channel-4-outlines-the-grand-plan-for-its-most-in-depth-paralympic-coverage-yet/

Anyone getting the Centenial Games other than Athens was not going to be looked upon favourable, especially a random city in the middle of the US. I think the bigger problem though was it was only 12 years since the LA Games - that just didn't seem fair for the games to return so soon and it was felt like it more consideration was made to US broadcasters than the Olympic movement. Agree though they probably should get a bit more love than they did, but the commercialisation argument wasn't helped by the cauldron being a giant McDonalds Fries package sat on a load of scaffolding. The moment was only saved by using Mohammed Ali.

Bonkers idea - the Winter Olympics is probably just about right with enough going on each day to be interesting but not so much that you can't follow most things. They also need spare days in case of poor weather conditions and of course things like hockey and curling need plenty of time for group games too. If anything the Summer Olympics should be extended, even if just by a day to try and get all events beginning after the Opening Ceremony. Indeed I'm surprised NBC have never flexed their financial clout to get the Opening Ceremony moved to Thursday Night, traditionally their peak night, rather than airing in what is usually seen a graveyard Friday night slot.

Let's see how the World Cup goes first.

Even in the stadium it didn't really have pride of place. Should have been where the Olympic Bell was fairly high up in the stadium, but it was practically at ground level. This is becoming an issue though with the almost standard 360 degree enclosed stadiums now. The Birds Nest got around it though with the cauldron on the edge of the roof, even though I suspect half the people in the stadium wouldn't be able to see it.

Durban couldn't even put together a Commonwealth Games with six years notice, never mind an Olympics with a years notice - and in doing so have probably guaranteed they won't be hosting the games in the near future.

Been a joy to relive London 2012 this weekend - they've basically played out the official DVDs on screen over the last few days with the directors cut of the Opening Ceremony and seven and a half hours of games actions featuring plenty of presentation from the BBC at the time too. Unsurprisingly the Closing Ceremony is left off the repeat agenda. One thing though that really stands out, and it is nothing we didn't discuss at the time, is the cauldron. One of my favourite lightings ever but was a huge shame it didn't shine bright over the city - and even when the athletics stadium opened it was basically shoved in a corner and we saw it far more on the stadium screens than in place in the stadium.

As much as costs needed to be reduced it does feel now it's a process of secret deals and backhanders with cities rather than an open bid.

Surely clearing the calendar incase Tokyo 2021 has to go back another year. Indeed I think they'd almost be better off announcing that sooner rather than later to allow federations to reschedule all the events they moved from 2021 to 2022 back again, and therefore take the risk of cancellations and crowd restrictions still being a factor next year. Hopefully though we'll have progress to beat this disease later this year, but even then I think for the Olympics to have athletes at the top of the game there is an argument to postpone.

Agree with the logic of postponing Birmingham for 4 years. Hamilton hosting in 2026 instead of 2030 would just be annoying (I feel the same about LA 2028 and kind of hope if Tokyo doesn't happen they'll rejig things so LA happens in 2032!) . Is a real shame Singapore has yet to host the Commonwealth Games - they would be a great host city.

Just to add Seven are screening two shows reflecting on Sydney 2000 later this month - think the first is a replay of the ceremony and the second is highlights from the games themselves.

It won't move because we know these events follow the money, not the morals. If it did though relocating the Winter Games to Japan would make the most sense given what is happening with the summer games - an absolute last resort if Beijing lost hosting rights and Tokyo 2021 couldn't go ahead would be to have both games in Japan in 2022.

Can't help but feel for the ceremonies team in particular with the delay. Sadly likely their plans will have to be pretty much ripped up unless a vaccine is widespread by next summer.

The cauldron looks like a poor imitation of the 2016 version. Not a fan of these small cauldrons at all though understand the environmental reasons behind it. Has to surely be a compromise solution though - and in the grand scheme of things I suspect the cauldrons impact on the environment is negligible compared to all the people flying in and all the waste they generate.

Remains to be seen if it happens though - so often the reality of needing a football team to be the anchor tenant changes any plan for a purely Athletics venue.

See BT Sport have the UK rights again, though last time that was basically just rebroadcasting the Youtube streams (so the world feed). They really made a massive mistake not partnering with the EBU, though maybe the EBU didn't want them considering the main federations did their own thing instead. Still a shame we can't quite have the Eurolympics that Europe deserves, but maybe one day the two will come together.