Olympian2004

It is amazing that the "Bielefeld conspiracy" is even known on the other side of the Atlantic, and I am pretty much in despair about it now. But yes, Bielefeld definitely exists and I am pretty tired of that old joke by this time.

And, by the way, as a trained newspaper and online journalist, I also miss the buzz of a newsroom, at least occasionally.

You are welcome, @Sir Rols. It was a bit of a hassle to watch it in a cinema in my region. The largest cinema in my town only screens it every Saturday at 11:20 pm (!), so my friend and I had to go to the neighbouring larger city of Bielefeld, where they only screened it in an arthouse cinema, but at least at the more comfortable time of 9 pm. It is a shame, really, that this movie does not get more prominent screening in cinemas, at the very least in my region. It is such an important movie in order to remind us Germans of a very sad, but important part of our post-war history. And against the backdrop of the Gaza war and hostage crisis and of the question whether today's media are still acting ethically correct, this movie has a particular significance even for the times we live in.

I watched "September 5" in a local cinema yesterday, and I can really recommend it. In my opinion, they did a great and sensitive job recreating that terrible day in Munich in 1972, through the eyes of the ABC crew witnessing the events at close range. Director Tim Fehlbaum and his crew created a very convincing 1972 atmosphere through an authentic set, even a 1970s-like image quality (at times) and, most of all, great actors, including Peter Sarsgaard playing the ABC Sports president Roone Arledge. And we get to see quite a lot of the unforgettable, haunting original footage of Jim McKay reporting while the tragic events unfolded. If you get the chance, watch it.

Very true, sadly. If only there was at least one smart person in the DOSB who got the idea: "Hey, let's bring in someone who already organised a successful Olympic bid. It would most probably have to be someone from a different country, but please let's stop this parochial thinking in order to win this damn thing!" But well...

Who else here on this board thought of Paris 2024 particularly fondly (or melancholically) during the past few days? It was a comparatively carefree time - and it is good that we enjoyed it while we could. The Olympic and Paralympic summer is gone, the autumn storms have arrived. France has a new government mired in controversy. The US will get a new government soon that does not live by Olympic ideals. And in Germany, the government collapsed with snap elections to come shortly before or after Trump's inauguration. Ukraine is facing a dire or even threatening situation as soon as Trump takes office and might feel tempted to tell Putin to "do whatever the hell he wants". It reminds us that Olympic and Paralympic Games are only an illusion, but a beautiful one - that humanity can live in harmony and peace, at least for a while.

Yes, I wonder whether Lula will be the next president to be replaced by a former right-wing populist president doing his comeback. Or is Bolsonaro still ineligible for re-election?

I don't know about that. I believe I read that the prerequisites for invoking the 25th amendment are pretty hard to reach. Trump is in mental decline, I agree, but still, I assume that no one in the MAGA movement would dare to remove their "great leader" unless he becomes a total doddering fool. And as you already said, it would probably not make anything easier if Trump were replaced by JD Vance or anyone else of those impossible people.

If I may answer you here, @StefanMUC, in order to not spill this discussion into the "electoral tie" topic: What leads you to believe that JD Vance will open the 2028 Games? That question may also apply to @Quaker2001, of course.

Please excuse my double post - I didn't see that you were commenting the election here and I posted this in the "electoral tie" topic in the Off-Topic section. But this is the election result that probably many of us dreaded, but hoped to avoid at the same time. I now have to try to wrap my head around so many things - and the fact that Donald Trump will open the Los Angeles 2028 Games is one of those things. I wonder which state the USA and its democracy will be in by the time that he will step up to that microphone in SoFi Stadium or the Coliseum... Or shall we hope for JD Vance doing that job as then-President of the United States? I am not too sure about that. Donald Trump is simply awful, but he is also too undisciplined and negligent to execute all of his policies (if they exist, for that matter) properly. JD Vance is much more scheming and disciplined, and there are also way too many eager MAGA minions who could replace him. I really wish the United States the best, but I can't shake off the feeling that they are now definitely screwed. And we, as world community, are screwed as well.

I am not sure whether we should be glad or sad that we were spared an electoral tie. In any way, this is the election result that probably many of us dreaded, but hoped to avoid at the same time. I now have to try to wrap my head around so many things - including the fact that Donald Trump will open the Los Angeles 2028 Games. I wonder which state the USA and its democracy will be in by the time that he will step up to that microphone in SoFi Stadium or the Coliseum...

That was not my point actually. I only said that the independent movement in Catalunya showed that there is some potential for unrest or at least public opposition in that region. The people of Barcelona don't shy away from making their voices heard when they oppose something.

I admit that as a German I am biassed against any strong European contender for 2036 or 2040, but let's first wait and see the public reaction to a Barcelona 2036 bid. I mean, we are talking about a city who is struggling with overtourism already now and the struggles around the Catalan sovereignty movement showed the potential for public unrest or at least resistance in that region. I am not sure whether the people of Barcelona at this point really want to invite even more tourists into their city.

@yoshi Yes, that is true - and adding to that, athletics has lost so much importance in Germany compared to football, that there are less and less athletics stadiums with even more than just a few hundred or thousand seats. I am just surprised, however, that for the Düsseldorf/Rhine-Ruhr bid for 2012, they still planned to use the Düsseldorf Arena as athletics stadium and wanted to refurbish it with an athletics track somehow. Probably that was only a pipe dream as well and therefore they are now going for a temporary stadium in some random city - probably one of the cities along the Ruhr, since media reports said they want to build that stadium on some industrial wasteland. And by the way: I love my home region (I was born in Duisburg and grew up near Düsseldorf), but an Olympic Stadium located in a city like Bochum, Essen or even Herne, Gelsenkirchen or Duisburg just feels wrong for me. The Olympic Stadium is always one of the focal points of every Olympic Games, and while I find the idea charming to use existing venues and therefore spread out the Olympic Games across the entire Rhine/Ruhr region, it would be quite disappointing to not have that focal point in one of the internationally better known (and also more attractive) cities like Düsseldorf or Cologne.

Adding to that, I think that there are more obvious "zeitgeisty"/"current pop culture" elements they could have chosen than the Minions. I mean, the minions have been around for almost 15 years already, starting with the first "Despicable Me" movie in 2010. And I have never felt that they planted a firm stamp on today's pop culture, unlike Nintendo did. Just like almost everyone else, I didn't even know the Minions' "French connection", while most people worldwide probably immediately associate Nintendo with Japan and the "Mission Impossible" movies and Tom Cruise with the USA. So it was still a puzzling choice and, as you said, it also didn't fit into the ceremony well.