baron-pierreIV

I mean Nice is nice -- but I wouldn't exactly call it "sexy." Of all the Winter host cities, I think Vancouver was the loveliest and the sexiest. Nice is like a little more elegant and less humid Miami.

Can't they get two of those extra stadia in Qatar 2022 - down-sized?

How about Avignon and Arles? Avignon has a great arts festival every summer and it's on the TGV line.

Well, plus, of course, Nice's most prominent boulevard is Promenade des Anglais which, of course, would delight the world's Anglo-Saxon press more than anything else! However, Nice Int'l -- unless plans are underway to extend the runways -- has some of the shortest runways for a modern 21st century airport that SHOULD handle A350s and 787 Dreamliners.

Another factor for Nice. Looking at the French plan and its graphics, it seems Nice has lots of free land on which to build the additional venues needed including the ALL-IMPORTANT Village #1. Per the plan, it seems that the 1,500 beds designated for the Nice OV1 will neatly fill Nice's housing needs post-Games for the city's growing lycee-age student population. Perhaps Lyon and Marseilles do not have the free acreage with which to build the needed facilities and venues.

Cruise ships can dock there and provide additional housing stock -- which you cannot do in Lyon? And there's also Cannes and Monaco nearby for additional accommodations.

Well, with 2 new hockey rinks required. if they use only ONE set of plans, then there will be significant savings in design fees!!

Was just thinking -- is Mr. Gold Medallist in Fencing 1976 waiting for a Nobel Prize maybe? Is that the key to a successful Swedish bid?

For me, the big question is-- since France is all but the certain host for 2030, how they (IOC) will slot the Double-Awarding moment so that, of course, as Paris 2024 plays out, they can ride out next summer's Olympic fever for six years' hence when the whole party will move to their SE corner -- and do what LA 2028 will be doing to drum up the excitement for Salt Lake 2034 when it's LA's turn in '28.

You do KNOW that WOG 1940 was initially designated for Sapporo in February 1940 (and SOG for Tokyo in the summer); so whomever wrote that (off-date of 1942) wasn't all that far-off from what might have been. It was when double-awards were given to the same country (so Japan 1940 was the 3rd such designation).

Well, as if I have to state it, the IOC knows they have to change with the times. And it's mere nomenclature matters -- so no biggie. (But here's the thing: I have an Greek acquaintance on FB who has a great collection of Olympic Games artifacts. He loves to claim that the 1906 Intercalated games are genuine Oly Games--a stance he takes since it was held in Athens, and of course, he is a die-hard Hellenic. However, the IOC over-ruled that notion long ago that 1906 breaks up the very neatly ordered time continuum of quadrennial celebrations, hence . . .) BTW, for historians out there, I just received my digital copy of the latest Int'l Society of Olympic HIstorians journal and the issue topic & lead story is the Centennial marking of Chamonix 1924. So, if Nice-AF 2030 is crowned next year, then another Centennial marking (insofar as being named) also lines up very neatly for the French.

Correction: so unless I missed it, Annecy, Chamonix and Grenoble are NOT part of the 2030 package. Only La Plagne is a hold-over from '92?

And I also don't like the "Sigulda" thing. Flying over the Baltic in February just doesn't sit right with me.

I like the "Nice-Alpes." It is a bifurcated bid. There was Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Milano-Cortina is OK, so why not Nice-Alpes? As a matter of fact, to me, Nice is like the add-on. It's really NOT a winter city and they're using the WOG to upgrade the city. "Alpes" too would honor France's traditional winter towns--Chamonix, Grenoble . . . or whatever little there is left of Albertville. How will they name the '38 WOG if it goes to Switzerland? Zurich, Geneva and Bern aren't in it? Sion is a minor part. So 2038 might have to be Helvetia 2038?

What if FRANCE wins only 3 gold medals or less next summer? And then SNOF does a Denver 1976? Will Suisse, Sweden or Salt Lake be the 2030 back-ups?