alphamale86

I know half of y'all pissed. Now I know Naomi isn't the most flashy person. and the way they did it was made lackluster. This is going to be an unpopular opinion but the saving grace of all of this is that Beijing will be doing the next opening ceremony in about 7 months and we will definitely be in for a show then. Say what must be said politically but they're the best ones to follow this mess

Wasn't it Madam Butterfly for Nagano?

goosebumps from this pianist!

So Imagine is the unofficial anthem NBC announced and the cauldron will be lit in the Mount Fuji as spoiled by the commentators. It's like NBC has completely given up. no suspense

I implore the IOC please elect a more charismatic leader next time around the last two have been absolutely horrendous when it comes to encouraging athletes!

Man extremely disappointed but I get it, they had to change it up. I doubt with all my ability to doubt that this is what they would have given us if covid wasn't apart of the setting.

Thomas Bach Is out of line for speaking so long. He should have cut this shorter.

NBC YOU ARE SO WRONG FOR THIS !

I am assuming they are waving to viewers at home due to the fact there are like 50 cameras all around them.

I understand your sentiment but we need to understand that walking in the opening ceremony is the big moment for 90% of the athletes. if you limit the number of athletes permanently you take that away from them. From a viewership perspective yes it takes awhile but give it to them lol

Exactly I feel it's disrespectful

It is kind of sad to see the athletes who have already entered sitting on the floor while the other athletes take their moment to talk in.

Haven't been here in awhile it is So unfortunate that this pandemic occurred in the first place but After Tokyo did such a great job with the Hand Over ceremony in 2016 I knew they would have done an incredible job had they had no limitations placed on it. I was supposed to be there as well which makes watching this on tv even more painful!!!

Lord I feel old. Because they are obviously trying to play to young people and I am just don't like it at all. It doesn't seem grand or Olympic in nature but whatever. I'll still be there to watch the opening ceremonies

Staying at one of my friends places. But I’m going solely for the first two days then fly back. Will fill you in on that later. Just wanted to be in the atmosphere. So the question now is do we meet at a bar or are we going to head down to odaiba where the second cauldron will be?

I’ll be there by then. Do you want to meet up somewhere to view the opening ceremony or do you have plans for that?

Definitely when do you head there?

Hey everyone. I didn’t know if this is something you all have done in the past but I just thought I’d throw it out there to see who’s interested? For those of us headed to Tokyo for the games do you all feel like actually meeting up in person maybe at a bar to watch an event or at the cauldron in Odaiba? I was in Tokyo during the Rugby WC and though I didn’t go to any of the matches it was still excellently fun watching the matches at some of the viewing spots. I’m finalizing my trip now but for those of you who have already done so what are your thoughts on a meet up?

Thank you I’ll start one

Who's going to Tokyo 2020 and is there going to be a Gamesbids meet up? I'm trying to finalize my plans now.

Maybe instead of doing a host city just simply do a hoist country like the World Cup. That way it maximizes a country’s ability to use existing facilities in different regions so they don’t need to build things. Sure the parade of nations might need to be reworked due to the fact that the athletes would have been spread out in preparations for their event but it sounds like the games have gotten to large for just one city to host. I haven’t been here in awhile so forgive me if that suggestion was already made

To be honest with the state of the race as it is and as much of an LA supporter as I am to me it doesn't matter which one gets it first. I have always believed that the two bids are equally as strong and that arguments working for one works for the other. So I look at it more from the standpoint of what the IOC might need. Do they go with LA that can basically host the games tomorrow first or do they go with Paris which covers the European games part? That's a toss up. Bach already said that Europe is the focus But here a thought though. The issues the IOC faces in when it comes to Europe is not the fact that Europe is begging to have the games there it's the opposite no? Why are they trying so desperately to get the games back to Europe when cities are turning away from them? But back to your question I would like LA to get it first but I just want them to get it so 2024 or 28 doesn't personally matter and I think either would be great I just would hate for the runner up to have to do all this crap again when they both have already proven to be strong.

FYI and Quaker You all have valid points but you're forgetting something this is an American city and American cities seldom take losing well...and thats from the public stand point up to investors. So you can assume all you want that they're just doing this till they win but judging from the American track record once their city gets to the candidate stage they pretty much are their to win or go home. 2) All of the things you all said are true but you all are ignoring that the situation now in 2017 is not the same as it was back in 96 and even 2010. You both have written prior to this that LA has been trying to bid since Atlanta and yes of course LA was trying to bid again, the world was a different place then and the Olympics was at one of it's peaks. You all have to admit that a potentially Massive corruption scandal, the fact that 8 cities have dropped out of the race in the last 3 bids due to public backlash, and growing terroristic concerns are going to make any city think twice about bidding in the 2020 years. Back in 96 9/11 didn't happen, the hardship of Athens didn't happen, sochi and beijing didn't happen trump didn't happen, and 8 referendums didn't happen. All I am saying is if I am someone who has been deeply enthused about something but then I realize the landscape has drastically changed since I set out on this journey I am going to think twice before I jump in again. One messed up cycle can be dismissed but 3 is a pattern that can't be ignored and when you take that into account plus this hole bizarre concept of "American Exceptionalism" (I'm not from the US), that is ingrained in the minds of people here, losing this time does not equate to a return for 2028 ESPECIALLY seeing 2028 isn't even a guaranteed win. No American city in these times will put themselves up to lose twice in a row.

I see your point but you have to admit times are changing. Yes LA loves the idea of bidding for the Olympics but you have to remember the enthusiasm in LA over the last 30 years was to get them to be the USOC candidate city. That's was the stage they were repeatedly trying to get too for the last like 20 something years. Hence the idea of LA bidding over and over again for the Games that most people here have is actually LA bidding over and over again to be the USOC's candidate city. Now that that has been accomplished and they are now the candidate city, we can't just assume that they will be as enthused to do the same process over again in 2028. Public fatigue will set in and support will dwindle and in a social media world where online frustrations are easily vented and dispersed that has spelt doom for many returning cities in the last couple of cycles. Yes Paris has bid repeatedly and lost the games but the USOC has also had some embarrassing losses and may say "Hey lets wait this out" It's hard to get any major city behind a second go around at an Olympic bid in these post Beijing / Sochi and city wide referendum times. Public support for bidding again will go down cause the average joe doesn't understand the politics behind these bids, they just say we were told no and go pout in a corner and where as before government officials would just up and bid again, the general public has become extremely well organized to push referendums through. No public official wants to go through that so I truly do say most likely neither Paris nor LA will return after a loss based solely on the fact of the possibility of the public losing interest after the loss This latest scandal that is rocking the IOC is sure to turn off a lot of major cities from bidding for 2028. Calling into question the 2016 games the 2022 vote tally mishap the 2020 payments is disastrous for the IOC's image, worse yet if it is proven to be true. So again I have to conclude that the IOC needs to award both games now cause these two strong candidates will not be going through the process for a second time while the IOC's skeletons get flushed into the press.

Yep I agree with this. I feel this is really irresponsible for Bach to say. If you come back you'd have an advantage. For 1 it's not a guarantee that the returner will win and 2 it's now a blatant announcement that the playing field will not be even for new bidders. He needs to over ride these members and simply bite the bullet and and award both games. I agree Paris isn't coming back but I don't think LA will either not so soon at least maybe 2032 but they can't justify it to the local public for a second go around with this. Bach and the IOC can't afford to hedge there bets to the loser returning knowing full well they have a volatile Europe and a short attention span US. Award both games and figure out what to do about 2032's process