plusbrilliantsexploits

Kinda like the Samaranchian "His Excellency" - and his obsession to be treated like a head of state. Laughable.

To be honest, it just comes across as pretentious and like the man has an inferiority complex - as if he knows that he is just all about the money, human rights, morality and fair sport be damned.

To be fair, I think Tokyo's radius of action was substantially impaired by Covid. Think artists, dancers, processions, singers and the like (and, of course, an audience) - none of which were there in notable numbers. Consequently, it feeling somewhat soulless isn't much of a surprise. The tone was also tricky - adopt too much of a hesitant tone, and the organizers would be criticized for adding to the wider gloomy mood; adopt too much of a triumphalist tone, and the orgnaizers would be attacked for lacking the tact to take account of events around Covid. Damned if they did, damned if they didn't. Besides, closing ceremonies feel, well, redundant. If anything, I hope that Covid will contribute to the gradual streamlining of this particular sub-genre in the Olympic experience. CCs tend to become free-for-alls with video montages, a couple of musical performances and a few overly saccharine speeches by IOC/OC officials tacked on. Scale it down, streamline it, keep it to the essentials would be the trifecta that closing ceremonies should go for in the future.

To be fair, the progress on vaccinations in China should be treated with a dose of caution. Reports from countries like the Seychelles, which heavily relied on Chinese vaccines are reporting a rather low efficacy rate. But yes, the PRC regime isn't acocountable to its people - so they will be able to execute a rather soulless, albeit efficient Winter Games, provided there is no major outbreak. Agreed, until I see anything to the contrary, I don't think that talk of a boycott will amount to much. Old thought patterns still persist among elected officials and sports functionaries alike. Somehow they think there is a pot of gold to be found there, at the end of the proverbial rainbow - execpt that it's a crown of thorns waiting for them, one way or the other. If the West was united, it could bring the IOC (and also China) to heel. But it lacks unity - so don't expect any major 1980-style boycott.

In that respect, I'm quite glad that the United States finished first - that way, the Communist regime cannot use a first-place finish for propaganda purposes. Considering its generally abysmal human rights record, its less-than-stellar (one might add: deceptive) role during the Covid outbreak (putting it rather diplomatically), its quasi-genocidal treatment of the Uighyur minority, as well as plausible suspicions and threats against its neighbours (not the least Taiwan - yes, Taiwan, not "Chinese Taipei"), one would think that the IOC would be clever enough not to hitch its wagon to the authoritarian regime in Beijing. Then again, as we Germans have known even before he became President, the one thing Thomas Bach possesses is a lack of morality. Not looking forward to Beijing 2022 at all - if the 2008 edition is any guide, it will be positively Riefenstahlesque.

Quite frankly, it's a travesty that the Russians are allowed to compete at all - even under this contrived notion of "no anthem, no official name and no national colours". If you get to compete, that's not punishment for the perpetration of a massive fraud, it's a pat on the back by the likes of Thomas Bach who lacks the moral clarity (and, quite frankly, interest) to truly take it to the Russians.

Did anything ever come out of this comp?

Trump's endorsement may very well be the kiss of death for the Los Angeles bid. Surely, the IOC doesn't want to have its brand tarnished by any kind of association with The Donald...

I can totally see the 2030 Asian Games within India's capacity, especially if Modi gets re-elected to a second term as Prime Minister. But the proof is in the pudding, and only if India satisfactorily deals with the big corruption/mismanagement elephant in the room will it be deemed a much more suitable and serious contender for the Summer Olympics. New Delhi remains India's best bet, so any improvements have to be happen in the country's capital - notably on infrastructure, crime (esp against women) and environmental issues.

Completely ignorant here, but couldn't Vancouver host the Commonwealth Games as well?

Thanks for sharing your impressions of Rio 2016 (and everything that led up to it) with us - I'm glad you got to enjoy this unique event up-close and am sure that I speak for many when I say that I wish you and your family very well!!

Yeah, that does suck ever so slightly...

The CAS just confirmed that the Russian delegation will NOT go to the Rio Paralympics: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/disability-sport/37165427 Looks like good old Tom's spiel about "individual athlete rights" has just been rejected by the highest arbitrary body in sport. So much for Dr Bach's mastery of sports law, then...

Well, Phelps and Bolt were not necessarily the two I was thinking of here - but the most prominent icons, and I do know that German commentators have been expressing doubts about the anti-doping regimen in Jamaica: every single time a Jamaican athlete wins, the journos on the public broadcast channel feel that it's necessary to say "Well, that was rather impressive, but - and I have to mention this and don't intend to spoil the mood here - it is important to bear in mind that Jamaica has been criticized by the WADA for its lax verification of blood and urine samples", only to proceed to pay a hurried lip service to the presumption of innocence. It's the same routine whenever someone seems to have come out of nowhere or pulverizes a long-standing world record. It's become a tiresome and understandable routine at the time. I guess the commentators on our two public broadcasters (which still hold the rights via the EBU) cannot go all out and accuse Bolt, Phelps, Ledecky and Hozszu of doping (thus, biting the hand that feeds your ratings and advertising slots), but they are essentially doing it via the backdoor with a "wink wink, nod nod" style. In other cases, the past of exposed drugs cheats makes such a disclaimer almost necessary - for instance, in the case of the female walking champion from China or many a weightlifter, or Yuliya Efimova etc. Needless to say, that cynicism about sport also contributed to the Hamburg bid's defeat in the referendum and lower ratings than in previous years (rather than the proliferation of private TV networks, which also existed in 1992 and 1996). That, and the moralizing and ignorant way in which German broadcasters frequently tend to cover foreign societies in general. Finally, it's becoming clearer that the cynicism in Germany has become so widespread that many Germans find it hard to immediately accept scientifc explanations for why a certain athlete just has a natural advantage. Funnily enough, I never heard any such accusations being made about German athletes (except for Kathrin Krabbe and her cohort, but that was way back in the 1990s and seen as part of East Germany's sordid legacy of state-authorized doping) and I feel that there is a fair element of moralizing jingoism (not necessarily in a xenophobic fashion, but in a "look at us, we are oh-so-clean and we would never, ever cheat" way) among some of us Germans as well. It also becomes too easy an excuse to justify sub-par performances by Germany in track & field, and swimming.

One of them being a certain Dr Thomas Bach...