stryker

8 white elephants

True but most of the events such as those in Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast are much shorter in distance than say from Madrid to Barcelona or Madrid to Seville (I'm excluding football venues). The difference is Spain has the high speed rail that can make those longer distances negligible.

With the identification of the new omicron variant as a variant of concern, travel restrictions creeping back in, and concerns the new variant could possibly evade existing vaccines, it will be interesting to see how this affects the WOGs just around the corner. If this spreads like the Delta variant did, could we perhaps see Beijing "altering those covid playbooks" to include more athletes falling under the quarantine rule or even outright bans of certain delegations? I will concede the latter is unlikely but I could envision mandatory institutional quarantines for the likes of South Africa. I don't envision at type of postponement of the Olympics this is close to the opening ceremonies.

Ukraine Update: U.S. Intel Shows Russia Troops Ready for Large-Scale Attack - Bloomberg If the IOC hasn't told Ukraine no by now . . . then maybe Putin can pull a double, 2030 Lviv and 2036 St. Petersburg

https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1115824/hamilton-2030-recommendation-mayor So even after the pivot to 2030 and rebranding it as a regional games, there's still concern about whether or not the city council will give a green light for Hamilton in 2030? If that falls through, then maybe the CWF should just be content to rotate the CWGs every four years between Australia and the UK.

Most of that screaming will come from outside of China and as you say the focus will be on the athletes so I highly doubt those protesting will get more than a token nod. On another note, it looks like Sebastian Coe is towing the same line that Bach and company are. His comparisons to 1936 are ridiculous and his statement that the Olympics are not sportswashing is downright false. https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1115817/diplomatic-boycott-beijing-2022-olympics

Unfortunately, I think this will eventually fizzle about much the like the Kashoggi situation with Saudi Arabia. It will be brought up in the media from time to time, but there will not be any serious retribution for China over this. For instance, if China wants to throw its hat in the ring for 2036 or something like the World Cup, the current situation with Peng is not going to doom any bids. I predict once the Olympics get going in Beijing it will be glossed over even more by the likes of the IOC. I also expect that in the lead up time to the Olympics very explicit instructions will be given to participating athletes regarding what they can and cannot say in China and I'm sure part of that warning will be that Peng is not up for discussion or protest. In terms of where this leaves the IOC, it's a black mark on an already poor public relations perception. It confirms what many have said for years, the IOC pays lip service when it comes to human rights. The likes of Bach, Coates and the rest of the crew could honestly care less.

No comparison. Sanctions against Iran are part of a ban on trade not to mention the U.S. does not even recognize the legitimacy of the Iranian regime diplomatically. No chance the U.S. would go down the same path with China. As they say, this is business.

Well the USA operates under a capitalist free enterprise system. Any attempt to sanction sponsors for doing good business would backfire horribly in a court of law.

I think Weikert's comments regarding a WOGs bid are nothing more than political posturing.

They aren't. Any bid with Baden Wurttemberg would have to partner with somewhere in Austria or Switzerland.

I don't know. The trend at the time was for countries to trot out their "Alpha+ cities" as I like to say after failure with what were considered "second-tier Olympic candidates at the time with the likes of France with Lille, Japan with Osaka, Germany with Leipzig (the most ridiculous of all of them), Spain with Seville, and the UK with Manchester (twice). Given there was fallout from Manchester's 2000 bid when the bid leader (can't remember his name) threatened to sue the IOC over bid related costs, I couldn't see a return to Manchester in terms of bidding at that time. Logistically, Manchester City removed the athletics track back in 2004 so there would not have been a viable option for an athletics stadium in a 2020 or 2024 bid which even today is the sticking point regarding any bid from Manchester or else where in the UK. Pure speculation, but I think the UK would have given London another shot, likely for 2024.

https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1102929/russia-preparing-2030-winter-olympic-bid Can't say about the places listed above but the idea of a Bashkortostan bid probably centered in Ufa was mooted back in January. Nothing heard from since. I speculate that the ROC is probably full focused on a SOGs. Of the places above, Yekaterinburg is probably the most plausible given existing infrastructure and track record of hosting marquee sporting events. The others would require extensive investment in terms of sporting and transportation infrastructure which of course we know from Sochi that Putin and co. don't have a limit when it comes to spending.

Given that there's talk of a public consultation (that points to referendum) it's hard to see this going forward. Once the financial numbers for Tokyo come out I expect you will see public support plummet.

Cheaper and less costly? Tokyo says hold my beer.