krow

they could reimburse the cost after the games from an invoice, genius.

russia should return to international competition because bad actions should never have consequences as long as you have money and powerful friends and fossil fuels. that's just reality! in fact it would be a good thing if russia's athletes competed because everyone knows they lie and cheat so it will force all the other athletes to perform at an even higher level to compensate so everyone wins if you think about it. think of all the broken records. OK like, imagine you're an athlete who doesn't dope and who has never personally committed a war crime and you beat a russian athlete. that would be really cool, right? it would make you feel really good, i bet. that's the real way to get justice in the world. and if you lose to a russian who is doping and has personally committed war crimes that's good too because life itself is unfair. all this obsession about fairness in sport is really ridiculous if you think about it. in real life, wealthy criminals who don't acknowledge rules let alone play by them have a leg up on people who think the world should be fair and live by those values. why should olympic sport be different? why should it be about equality? wasn't the olympics founded by global imperialist elites? isn't it still run by them? sport should be as unfair as the rest of the world. everyone wants to see that when they tune in. everyone wants to see diplomatically protected, doping war criminals steamroll fair competitors. if the whole world has to suck then sport should have to suck too, and in the exact same ways. it's only fair! what's unfair is actually holding russians to standards that don't exist in the real world. it's like against human rights or something and the olympics is all about fairness and human rights. thank you for coming to my ted talk.

people love to lecture me but much like AF i will never learn!

oh no, we're not fighting. you're just seeing the frustration of trying to reason with a troublesome pet or a young toddler who hasn't yet achieved the age of reason. most human beings reach that stage by age 3, but sadly others never will.

yes, i was agreeing with you, referring to the headline. @AustralianFan you are in my prayers, as always.

seriously. do not do the IOC's PR for them. that's what we have AF for.

shoot me like a lame horse if i ever sound that desperate. jeez, have a little self respect.

wow i have to respect the incredible laziness-as-innovation here.

it's not his fault, he doesn't understand humor, nuance or irony. we should all just put him on ignore and enjoy rich, fulfilling lives full of happiness and intelligent discussion, but we won't because we hate ourselves and this board.

oh bless his heart.

i didn't read the whole transcript, but was that question asked and answered during the press conference? i'd be interested to know if that's the case. a really good question to ask would have been, how many of these interested parties include city governments vs. NOCs? although they could have said "it's a mix" or some evasive bullshit.

wait, could the USOC demand the IOC drop russia from its neutral athlete position as a condition for taking 2030? i realize i sound crazy for asking that, but it would be so, so hilarious.

maybe they'll get lucky and some deadly new pandemic will sideline 2030 altogether.

chatgpt, write a casual forum post in the style of gamesbids debating whether there should be a rotating list of winter olympic bid cities, including vancouver, salt lake city, pyeongchang and abuja write a casual reply explaining why climate change will be a key consideration write a casual reply arguing the IOC is too incompetent to pull off a rotating list of host cities for the winter olympics write a casual reply arguing why abuja should be included in the list of permanent winter olympics host cities, with detailed examples write a casual reply complaining how thomas bach frequently mentions that he's the 1976 olympic champion in fencing write a casual reply mentioning how london is the greatest city ever write a casual reply explaining how the failure of agenda 2020 will make it hard for the IOC to find new winter olympic host cities write a casual reply debating whether the skiier alex hall is a total hottie write a short, casual reply unequivocally stating that alex hall is a total hottie [chatgpt thought for a LONG, long time and responded very slowly -- really did not want to admit a simple truth]

you joke, but dictatorships are always a sensible fallback from the IOC's point of view. sadly for them, russia is completely off the table, possibly for the rest of our lifetimes (presuming you're not some young kid). but beijing and almaty might do in a pinch. god knows they could use the PR. it's good for humanity but a shame for the IOC that very few prosperous dictatorships can host winter sports, although i suppose it makes sense considering they were conceived as a past time for western european elites.