Aronious

I don't think the issue is where individual members come from. It's probably better that the members come from countries unlikely to host the event in their own right, thus more likely to make a decision on merits rather than national pride. I agree there are too many Asian members, but that is ultimately a result of the growing importance and population in Asia. The problem is the size of the organisation. With so few members, results can be easily manipulated by just a handful of votes. While the IOC has made some dubious decisions in the past, it is far harder to orchestrate conspiracies, collusion or establish corrupted factions in an organisation with 200+ members.

Certainly. It's only the totally economic naive who someone think cities are some how "broke" just because they run a deficit more than they run a surplus or have debt liabitlies. I expect these floods to have some effect on the QLD and Federal bottom line in the short-term (perhaps the next 3 years), though it will probably have a number of positive effects on QLD's economy in the lead up to a Commonwealth Games (increased labour demand, low inflationary pressure, slower growth).

Of course the floods will have a negative, short-term fiscal impact and push Queensland (if not Australia) into a technical "recession". As you point out Rols, logistically it is still well and truly possible. It won't be unreasonable for QLD to be borrowing and increasing its debt for this event and the flood clean up. I believe all Australian states, territories and Federal Government still maintain an AA+ credit rating so sourcing and repaying the funds won't be difficult. The biggest hurdle will be convincing the public. If the floods had a greater effect on the Gold Coast, it could perhaps be used an event to "show off" how well the region had recovered by 2018.

On some side notes; Mr Assange is an Australian citizen, not Swedish. He is also yet to be charged with any offence relating to his Wikileaks work, in any country. Effectively, to the letter of the law, he has done nothing wrong. Similarly, in terms of laws, FIFA isn't accountable for anything either. Morally, its all subjective.

That's a common argument against almost any public spending initiative or project. The fact remains that while the event itself may not turn over a profit, the economic activity a Commonwealth Games could produce would provide a net-benefit to the Queensland economy in the long run. I somewhat agree with your point about Australia hosting the event too often, too soon. However on the other hand, I think its more a matter of how a city has developed. I mean, the Gold Coast is increasingly becoming a major metropolitan area in its own right. An event such as this somewhat "announces" the fact the the Gold Coast is quickly joining other prominent cities in Australia. The Games will attract more investment, great diversity in activities and above all more $$$ to the Gold Coast. I agree hosting the Commonwealths in Brisbane or Sydney (or even Perth) again would offer little to the cities that they don't already have or benefit from.

I think you are a little too kind with respect to "Preparations" and "Operations" The sport, competition and ceremonies itself were top notch. All the bad publicity about the Games probably garnered more interest in the event overall. In some respects, more exciting than any Games I've seen. The complete and utter failure of the Games was the ticketing, the village conditions and the preparation of venues. To me, these were verging on failures. Overall, India was saved by high quality competition...something that is ultimately (at least mostly) out of organisers control. While the event panned out well, I get the feeling they almost got lucky and fell across the line.

So effectively, the 5th (potentially 6th) fastest person in the event (dependent on the calibre of the other UK competitor disqualified) will get a bronze medal. What a shambles that race was.

The question here is where do you draw the line? What qualifies as an independent false start and what does not? I agree in this circumstance she was correctly disqualified (though should never have been allowed to run the race, celebrate, and almost receive a medal!!!) though some serious questions should be raised with respect to how the rules are applied.

The athletes didn't actually complain. In fact, they laughed off the fact officials were cleaning the pool anyway. They commented that they were fine with swimming in the pool as they would merely dive through where the moths landed anyway.

It was confirmed by the Australian swimmers in the 4x100m relay (D'Osogna) that they were moths...or at least it was moths blocking their lane before the beginning of the race.

Later confirmed to be several moths falling from the roof.

I noticed that. I hardly recall any advertising at the Melbourne games. It was almost all Games branding...and even when it was official partners or advertisers, it was in keeping with the rest of the branding. With Dehli it seems to be Honda, Honda, Honda, Small non-descript Games logo, Honda.

A lot of tickets have been purchased online/over the phone/in the post. There have been computer/system difficulties in getting the tickets physically printed. A lot of people have been turning up to ticket outlets and venues hoping to have their ticket printed for them before entering to find that there has been a system error and they aren't able to enter. That's my understanding at least.

India can't match a bake sale in down town Hamilton, let alone China's Olympics.