Frenchy
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Posts posted by Frenchy
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Jean-Claude Killy is resigning from the IOC. While I realize he's 70 years old and he was a co-organizer for the Winter Olympics in Albertville, any chance he might consider heading up or at least assisting with a potential Paris bid?
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/more/news/20140329/jean-claude-killy-resigns-ioc.ap/?eref=si_more
He « assisted » with the 2012 bid and we all saw how well that went!!
Seriously though I think he’s a little too old to head a Paris bid. One of the criticisms levelled at the 2012 bidding team was that it was mainly made up of old men in grey suits…which btw was underserved.
Incidentally it’ll be interesting to see who the ioc appoints as his replacement, French or not French.
Either way the message will be received loud and clear…..
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Paris gets first female mayor.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/30/anne-hidalgo-socialist-first-paris-mayor-front-national
Don't know much about her.
Does she support an Olympic bid?
http://www.gamesbids.com/forums/topic/23063-paris-2024/?p=434989
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After her trip to London French sports minister, Valérie Fourneyron, travels to Tokyo to meet her Japanese counterpart.
(in French)
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Was chatting to a friend who lives in Paris the other day and apparently there is a groundswell of opposition toward an Olympic bid.
I wrote this 6 months ago....
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(...)
Back to topic
Anne Hidalgo, whom the polls see as winning the next mayoral election in Paris, has publicly stated that she was, “at this moment in time”, “not really” in favour of an Olympic bid. She added that it was not for the Paris ratepayer to meet the costs of the games and that she first needed to be given financial guarantees. However, she concluded, if the bid does go ahead, she would be happy to work with the bidding team:
(in French)
An online poll run by a French daily gave the following results which need no translation! :
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But what do you think about Finnish food?
Just as bad today as it was in 2005!
No, why would an embryonic bid team want to speak to the Chairman of the organising committee of the last Summer Games? Beats me!
(snip)
Same here.
Beats me why they would want to meet up with Coe!
According to Le Monde the French visitors were more interested in the after Games and legacy, real or imagined, than the bidding process.....
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Personally I am hoping for Paris 2024, they need to sex it up a bit but they certainly have my vote for all its worth
Thanks for that.
On the other hand the ioc need to treat bidders with greater respect, stop playing playground politics, eeny meeny minie moe or spin the bottle!
Otherwise they are facing a bleak future where the only bidders will be repeat offenders (Tokyo), B & C listers (Istanbul), stalkers (Madrid) and oil rich countries with dubious reputations.....
Not really what dreams are made of, n'est-ce pas?
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Surely any information a bid can learn from a successful bid is to their benefit. If you think you have nothing to learn after 3 failed bids then you should surely expect a fourth failed bid.
I never said nor think that we have nothing to learn from others, I simply stated that we had nothing to learn from Coe and his band of merry men....
Besides, if the present French government runs the bidding process the way they're running the country then, yes, we are heading for a new defeat.
....which explains why many, over here, are wary of a 2024 Paris bid.
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More worrisome for a French bid, the main candidate for mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, is far from enthusiastic about a Paris bid.
Anne Hidalgo "pas vraiment" favorable à des Jeux olympiques à Paris en 2024Hardly surprising.
Her mentor, the outgoing mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanöe whom she hopes to replace, headed the Paris 2012 bidding team!
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Well, convincing Hollande and the French government is the main thing now if Paris is going to bid. But I don't see how speaking to the leader of a winning bid and the head of the organising committee for the last Summer Games could be anything other than constructive for Paris 2024.
Again I fail to see what Coe could teach us that we don't already know.
Lessons on how to dis the opposition perhaps!
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Je crois, docteur, que l'homme de Néanderthal est en train de nous le mettre dans l'os. Deux intellectuels assis vont moins loin qu'une brute qui marche.
- Un taxi pour Tobrouk (1961)
T'as des lettres!!
Personnellement je préfère Les Tontons Flingueurs !
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The team of Paris 2024 is in London today for a meeting with Lord Coe and other former members of London 2012 bid team.
JO 2024 : "On aimerait bien" une candidature française, dit Bernard Lapasset
I fail to see what they're hoping to gain or achieve on that trip.
Little or nothing I guess.......
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World Cup: FIFA vice-president Jim Boyce says no decision yet made on 2022 event
What a mess!!
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If Paris is concerned about costs, then they won't need to build a Olympic Stadium, (Which is a big chunk of the cost), because the Stade de France can host The Opening and Closing Ceremonies, as well as the Athletics and Football Finals, if Paris decides to Bid for a future Summer Olympic Games.
You obviously weren't around in 2005......
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/04/sports/04iht-OLY.html?_r=0
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According to Jérôme Valcke the 2022 WC will be held in winter.
http://www.foot01.com/foot-mondial/le-mondial-2022-decale-en-hiver-annonce-la-fifa,132859
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/08/sport/football/valcke-qatar-world-cup-2022-football/
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There is a poll on the site of "L' EQUIPE" today. So far: 60% in favour - 38% against...
Link?
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He does it because it might be the thing that pushes a city from 'we could try, but there's no point, we won't win' to 'you know what, we've got a real chance, let's do it'. It can only help get bidders.
If I were Bach I wouldn't be building my hopes just yet.
"There's many a slip twixt cup and lip"
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"IOC boss backs new Paris bid for Olympics"
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ioc-boss-backs-paris-bid-olympics-220336192--oly.html
Paris (AFP) - New International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach said Friday he would be very favourable towards a new bid by Paris to host the Olympic Games in either 2024 or 2028.
On the eve of his first meeting with French President Francois Hollande, the IOC chief told France 3 television: "The enthusiasm of the French people for sport is obvious ... it would be a very, very strong candidate."
"It's a sports competition, you can't wait until you're the only bidder. That's never going to happen," he added of France's reticence to bid again after failed attempts for the 2012 Summer and 2018 Winter Games.
Beaten by London for last year's Olympics, France have set their diplomatic-sporting wheels back into motion over the past few weeks.
Hollande met with three members of the French Olympic committee, Jean-Claude Killy, Guy Drut and Tony Estanguet earlier this month.
And on Monday a reception was organised by Hollande in the Elysee Palace attended by Sports Minster Valérie Fourneyron, member of the French National Olympic Committee Denis Masseglia and French Committee for International Sport(CFSI) Bernard Lapasset.
France last hosted the Summer Games in 1924, and 2024 would mark the centenary of the last Paris Games.
Concerning the current difficult economic situation in France with record unemployment, Bach insisted that the IOC did not want "bids that were costly".
"A bid can contribute to development, not only sports development but also social development in a country and in a city," the German said.
"You have to go for it, to be united, to fight for it."
But then again he equally stated a few d
But then again he equally stated a few days earlier:
Methinks he's looking for a rerun of the 2012 bid......
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Paris, Monday 25th November 2013.
Ten day after having having met with the three French IOC members, French president François Hollande held a meeting at the Elysée Palace with his sports minister Valérie Fourneyron, Denis Masseglia, president of the French NOC (CNOSF) and Bernard Lapasset head of the international French sports committee (CFSI).
One of the subjects discussed was the possibility of a Paris bid for the 2024 SOG.
No comments were made after the meeting….
(French speakers only)
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That article is just an extract from a much longer interview given in last Sunday’s ‘Journal du Dimanche’ (JDD).
It’s been put online at the following page (for French speakers only!).http://www.lejdd.fr/recherche?query=Jean-Claude%20Killy
I mentioned elsewhere the importance of domestic politics when presenting a bid and the statements made by Killy come as no surprise.
He’s never hidden his right wing views and even sings Putin’s praise in that article brushing away any comments regarding the anti-gay laws in Russia. He’ll also be leaving the ioc after the 2014 WOGs at the ripe old age of 70.
The fact that a winning bid could be presented at a time when the country is being run by a socialist government probably sticks in his throat. Hence the swipe.
Then again, he’s got nothing to worry about as there will probably be no bid.
One last remark. He claims that the French are perceived as, <yawn>, ‘arrogant’. Seeing as he’s one of the longest serving Frenchman at the ioc, he probably contributed to that image by his own attitude….and by this interview!
I wish him a long and bile free retirement. -
Revealed: Qatar's World Cup 'slaves'
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/25/revealed-qatars-world-cup-slaves
Revealed: Qatar's World Cup 'slaves'Exclusive: Abuse and exploitation of migrant workers preparing emirate for 2022
World Cup construction 'will leave 4,000 migrant workers dead'
- Pete Pattisson in Kathmandu and Doha
- The Guardian, Wednesday 25 September 2013 17.46 BST
- Jump to comments (1438)
Link to video: Qatar: the migrant workers forced to work for no pay in World Cup host countryDozens of Nepalese migrant labourers have died in Qatar in recent weeks and thousands more are enduring appalling labour abuses, a Guardian investigation has found, raising serious questions about Qatar's preparations to host the 2022 World Cup.
This summer, Nepalese workers died at a rate of almost one a day in Qatar, many of them young men who had sudden heart attacks. The investigation found evidence to suggest that thousands of Nepalese, who make up the single largest group of labourers in Qatar, face exploitation and abuses that amount to modern-day slavery, as defined by the International Labour Organisation, during a building binge paving the way for 2022.
According to documents obtained from the Nepalese embassy in Doha, at least 44 workers died between 4 June and 8 August. More than half died of heart attacks, heart failure or workplace accidents.
The investigation also reveals:
• Evidence of forced labour on a huge World Cup infrastructure project.
• Some Nepalese men have alleged that they have not been paid for months and have had their salaries retained to stop them running away.
• Some workers on other sites say employers routinely confiscate passports and refuse to issue ID cards, in effect reducing them to the status of illegal aliens.
• Some labourers say they have been denied access to free drinking water in the desert heat.
• About 30 Nepalese sought refuge at their embassy in Doha to escape the brutal conditions of their employment.
The allegations suggest a chain of exploitation leading from poor Nepalese villages to Qatari leaders. The overall picture is of one of the richest nations exploiting one of the poorest to get ready for the world's most popular sporting tournament.
"We'd like to leave, but the company won't let us," said one Nepalese migrant employed at Lusail City development, a $45bn (£28bn) city being built from scratch which will include the 90,000-seater stadium that will host the World Cup final. "I'm angry about how this company is treating us, but we're helpless. I regret coming here, but what to do? We were compelled to come just to make a living, but we've had no luck."
The body tasked with organising the World Cup, the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee, told the Guardian that work had yet to begin on projects directly related to the World Cup. However, it said it was "deeply concerned with the allegations that have been made against certain contractors/sub-contractors working on Lusail City's construction site and considers this issue to be of the utmost seriousness". It added: "We have been informed that the relevant government authorities are conducting an investigation into the allegations."
The Guardian's investigation also found men throughout the wider Qatari construction industry sleeping 12 to a room in places and getting sick through repulsive conditions in filthy hostels. Some say they have been forced to work without pay and left begging for food.
"We were working on an empty stomach for 24 hours; 12 hours' work and then no food all night," said Ram Kumar Mahara, 27. "When I complained, my manager assaulted me, kicked me out of the labour camp I lived in and refused to pay me anything. I had to beg for food from other workers."
Almost all migrant workers have huge debts from Nepal, accrued in order to pay recruitment agents for their jobs. The obligation to repay these debts, combined with the non-payment of wages, confiscation of documents and inability of workers to leave their place of work, constitute forced labour, a form of modern-day slavery estimated to affect up to 21 million people across the globe. So entrenched is this exploitation that the Nepalese ambassador to Qatar, Maya Kumari Sharma, recently described the emirate as an "open jail".
Record of deaths in July 2013, from all causes, held by the Nepalese embassy in Doha. Photograph: /guardian.co.uk"The evidence uncovered by the Guardian is clear proof of the use of systematic forced labour in Qatar," said Aidan McQuade, director of Anti-Slavery International, which was founded in 1839. "In fact, these working conditions and the astonishing number of deaths of vulnerable workers go beyond forced labour to the slavery of old where human beings were treated as objects. There is no longer a risk that the World Cup might be built on forced labour. It is already happening."
Qatar has the highest ratio of migrant workers to domestic population in the world: more than 90% of the workforce are immigrants and the country is expected to recruit up to 1.5 million more labourers to build the stadiums, roads, ports and hotels needed for the tournament. Nepalese account for about 40% of migrant labourers in Qatar. More than 100,000 Nepalese left for the emirate last year.
The murky system of recruitment brokers in Asia and labour contractors in Qatar leaves them vulnerable to exploitation. The supreme committee has insisted that decent labour standards will be set for all World Cup contracts, but underneath it a complex web of project managers, construction firms and labour suppliers, employment contractors and recruitment agents operate.
According to some estimates, Qatar will spend $100bn on infrastructure projects to support the World Cup. As well as nine state-of-the-art stadiums, the country has committed to $20bn worth of new roads, $4bn for a causeway connecting Qatar to Bahrain, $24bn for a high-speed rail network, and 55,000 hotel rooms to accommodate visiting fans and has almost completed a new airport.
The World Cup is part of an even bigger programme of construction in Qatar designed to remake the tiny desert kingdom over the next two decades. Qatar has yet to start building stadiums for 2022, but has embarked on the big infrastructure projects likesuch as Lusail City that, according to the US project managers, Parsons, "will play a major role during the 2022 Fifa World Cup". The British engineering company Halcrow, part of the CH2M Hill group, is a lead consultant on the Lusail project responsible for "infrastructure design and construction supervision". CH2M Hill was recently appointed the official programme management consultant to the supreme committee. It says it has a "zero tolerance policy for the use of forced labour and other human trafficking practices".
Halcrow said: "Our supervision role of specific construction packages ensures adherence to site contract regulation for health, safety and environment. The terms of employment of a contractor's labour force is not under our direct purview."
Some Nepalese working at Lusail City tell desperate stories. They are saddled with huge debts they are paying back at interest rates of up to 36%, yet say they are forced to work without pay.
"The company has kept two months' salary from each of us to stop us running away," said one man who gave his name as SBD and who works at the Lusail City marina. SBD said he was employed by a subcontractor that supplies labourers for the project. Some workers say their subcontrator has confiscated their passports and refused to issue the ID cards they are entitled to under Qatari law. "Our manager always promises he'll issue [our cards] 'next week'," added a scaffolder who said he had worked in Qatar for two years without being given an ID card.
Without official documentation, migrant workers are in effect reduced to the status of illegal aliens, often unable to leave their place of work without fear of arrest and not entitled to any legal protection. Under the state-run kafala sponsorship system, workers are also unable to change jobs or leave the country without their sponsor company's permission.
A third worker, who was equally reluctant to give his name for fear of reprisal, added: "We'd like to leave, but the company won't let us. If we run away, we become illegal and that makes it hard to find another job. The police could catch us at any time and send us back home. We can't get a resident permit if we leave."
Other workers said they were forced to work long hours in temperatures of up to 50C (122F) without access to drinking water.
Dalli Kahtri and her husband, Lil Man, hold photos of their sons, both of whom died while working as migrants in Malaysia and Qatar. Their younger son (foreground photo) died in Qatar from a heart attack, aged 20. Photograph: Peter Pattison/guardian.co.ukThe Qatari labour ministry said it had strict rules governing working in the heat, the provision of labour and the prompt payment of salaries.
"The ministry enforces this law through periodic inspections to ensure that workers have in fact received their wages in time. If a company does not comply with the law, the ministry applies penalties and refers the case to the judicial authorities."
Lusail Real Estate Company said: "Lusail City will not tolerate breaches of labour or health and safety law. We continually instruct our contractors and their subcontractors of our expectations and their contractual obligations to both us and individual employees. The Guardian have highlighted potentially illegal activities employed by one subcontractor. We take these allegations very seriously and have referred the allegations to the appropriate authorities for investigation. Based on this investigation, we will take appropriate action against any individual or company who has found to have broken the law or contract with us."
The workers' plight makes a mockery of concerns for the 2022 footballers.
"Everyone is talking about the effect of Qatar's extreme heat on a few hundred footballers," said Umesh Upadhyaya, general secretary of the General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions. "But they are ignoring the hardships, blood and sweat of thousands of migrant workers, who will be building the World Cup stadiums in shifts that can last eight times the length of a football match."
• Read the official response to this story
• The Guardian's investigation into modern-day slavery is supported by Humanity United. Click here for more information
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Are you ready to support a Rome bid after the undercover schemes operated by the Pescante/Berlusconi duo (and another candidate city btw, which wasn't the winner) against Paris 2012? You're so forgiving.
Nice to see there still are some people who wouldn't mind helping persons who plunged their head in the water a few years ago. Not sure if that's your case.
Likewise, if you expect French IOC members to back a Rome bid, then I think you have a very fertile imagination. Which can be a quality, don't get me wrong.
Anyway, after so much absence in North America and total absence in Africa, I can't imagine 2024 to go back to Europe. Especially with the memorable trace left by London 2012. Hence why people were not talking much about the city you mentioned.
I know how you feel Pixie.
I very well remember the grubby agreement Bliar had with the lecherous Berlusconi back in 2004/5 which gave way to the Jowellgate affair.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tessa_Jowell_financial_allegations
Those two clowns will go down in history as the most despised post-war politicians in their respective countries.
And the Brits would still have you believe that they played clean!!
Still, if the games had to go to Europe sometime in the future Rome would be as good a place as any. I believe it’s one of the most stunning cities in the world………after Paris!
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Oh dear.
After having lost the Finnish vote, we are now going to lose the Japanese one!!
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Saw this article the other day (in French):
Basically, the French NOC (CNOSF) and the sports minister, Valérie Fourneyron, aren't speaking to each other any more.
It's all down to public funding which is drying up and the setting up of a national sports council.
Last July Denis Masseglia, head of the CNOSF, actually walked out of two meeting with the sports minister.
Doesn't really bode well for the future.
Does it?
Email
The IOC Membership
in General Olympics Discussion
Posted
What should Killy have done baron?
After all, it's not like the ioc are too bothered about human rights when choosing a host.
Is it?