Brekkie Boy

Combining them is a non-starter due to the volume of athletes and events involved - it would likely be detrimental to the Paralympic movement and see less exposure for their events just after all the progress made in the last decade. Similarly the idea of them taking place before has been raised before and I think the games would suffer somewhat from the Olympics not acting as a warm up event for them. However in practical terms for the Winter Games there is an argument they may be better off staged in January than March. Overall the status quo is the best option for now.

There is no "unfortunately" about it. They must be banned from bidding for any event as long as Putin is in charge.

The UK tabloids now thinking the UK/ROI bid has won by default with Russia kicked out and Turkey set to withdraw. https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/17851449/euro-20280-to-be-held-in-uk/

The least of their worries at the moment and sadly war-torn countries take decades to rebuild. It's location for now mean s Lviv is relatively untouched but once the Russians take Kyiv, which seems inevitable, it will surely be their next target.

It certainly seemed more enclosed.

Just couldn't muster the enthusiasm to watch this in full, partly due to current events and partly due to how underwhelming the Olympic Ceremony was, but largely knowing we'd get no pay off with the torch moment. Did catch that though - as crap as the first time - even just lighting a slightly bigger torch within the snowflae would improve things. Liked the fireworks Agitos afterwards though.

Is the crowd situation the same as the Olympics - i.e. pretty much none for the ceremonies.

Which probably uses as much energy as a proper cauldron would for the duration of the games.

P.S. And one other factor in awarding Brisbane so early is it's going to hit the next media cycle for the games, which although for 2026/28 is also inviting bids for 2030/32. The European value for 2032 is going to be signifcantly lower now we know they're in Australia than had they took the media rights to the market before a final call was made, potentially with European cities in the mix. Perhaps it's more honest to award the rights after the cities are known, but not necessarily to the advantage of the IOC.

Brisbane 2032 will forever be tainted by being a behind closed door deal far earlier than games are usually awards. No only do such things whiff of corruption given how they were awarded, regardless of whether they are or not, but most importantly it means it doesn't feel like it's the peoples games. OK, the problem is half the time the people don't want the games on their doorstep but that is no reason to force them upon them. This feels like a leaving gift for an Aussie IOC member rather than an event for the people of the city. It's tricky to get excited about the 2030/34 bids in the current format when there seems to be no clear process. The way you tackle corruption isn't embracing it - though it often seems to be the solution organisations arrive that. There must be a compromise which keeps the costs down but the process open and transparent. Awarding two games at once seems an obvious solution, although I guess some cities will always need a dry run to even have a shot at getting them on the second attempt. The thing is not to string them along though for the sake of an apparent competition, but without narrowing down your choices so signficiantly so early in the process.

Condemning them for breaking the "Olympic Truce" doesn't exactly show the IOC in a great light either - kind of suggests they wouldn't care if it was outside the period of the Olympics/Paralympics. Makes it look like the truce is more about protecting the commercial interests around holding the games rather than promoting peace.

You couldn't make it up

They're 1000km apart. Even under "Agenda 2020" that should be a none starter, especially when both are capable of hosting the event alone. Personally I'd love to see the games return to a European heartland of Winter Sport before long - either Norway or Austria. Probably not going to happen for 2030 at least, but feel like they need to bring the games somewhat back to their roots before they outgrow themselves even further.

I think the Commonwealth Games are just increasingly irrelevant. If it wasn't for Australian interest they'd probably be long gone - and arguably the Aussie interest stems from them not having a continental games they regularly compete in themselves, though there is talk of them joining the Asian Games. The European Games just took too long to get off the ground and being effectively boycotted by a few major sports meant they were never taken seriously. The European Sport Championships kind of worked better, but if they could come together for a proper Eurolympics there is a chance moving forward that movement could gain strength - ideally they'd have both summer and winter versions and perhaps put some of the traditional European host cities back in favour again.

Never understand why people do this for events like this. It's usually absolute nobodies who would only benefit from such publicity anyway rather than it causing them financial harm. Guess they hope for a settlement and a quick buck but they're usually come across as sour and selfish with an extreme over estimation of their own importance.

What was the venue situation in the lead up to 1976? Were some in place, were some already being built?

They're 1000km apart. Even under "Agenda 2020" that should be a none starter, especially when both are capable of hosting the event alone. Personally I'd love to see the games return to a European heartland of Winter Sport before long - either Norway or Austria. Probably not going to happen for 2030 at least, but feel like they need to bring the games somewhat back to their roots before they outgrow themselves even further.

God, this thread title reads very differently today.

One of the most terrifying mascots in quite some time.

Today's events show that if they really want to international sporting organisations can put morals before money.

Not looking hugely promising then and guessing it's unlikely Nagano would step up again. Would even Tokyo be a possibility for repurposed venues for the ice events if there is a mountain venue within range under the "Agenda 2020" rules, or is Tokyo just too curse now by the curse of the covid games? That said as much as I'd like to see Japan rewarded for hosting the games in the most difficult circumstances I'm not that keen on a third Winter games in four being in Asia. I'd rather see Tokyo have the option of hosting the summer games again in 2036 TBH.

Don't suppose there is any chance they'll knock up a proper cauldron in time for the Paralympics, or dig out the 2008 one. Was bad enough being conned into watching one ceremony to see the big moment being a torch placed in a stand never mind having to go through it again.

Any chance the menu on the homepage (when in mobile mode) can be tidied up with the removal of links to games which have long since passed taking place, never mind the bidding process. At the moment you have to scroll through dozens of links to get to the forums link.

Really poor ceremony. The opening few minutes of the Figure Skating Gala looked like they had more thought put into them than the entire closing ceremony.

What's going on with the sound - sounds like they're flushing the toilet after every sentence.