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After 3 OGs in Asia, I think the IOC would view Vancouver 2030 and SLC 2034 much more favourably. Better time zone for broadcasting, deeper pockets for sponsorships, a lot of existing venues in place. Dunno about Utah, but the Lower Mainland could definitely do with some additional housing stock: UBC, SFU, perhaps the North Shore.

Am gutted for Latvia, but bravo Slovenia!

The athletes have to be staged a couple of hours before the parade, then are queued up and standing for probably a minimum of 2 hours. If I were competing in the next 2 days I would absolutely skip it.

Oh what a difference a lunchtime start makes for viewing an Olympic marathon Opening Ceremony: Speeches were the only obvious yawn part for me--especially the OCOG head saying everything in broken English followed by Portuguese. He should've tried French rather than English. Bach's speech was OK and his French was pretty good (fur ein Auslander). The national narrative was staged well. Music overall was good rather than awesome: if the general axiom is OC for the global audience and CC for the home crowd, some of this would have worked better in the CC. The acting President getting booed was both unfortunate and totally predicable. Every recent OC has had a statement element of some controversy. The green message might not reflect all of Brasil today, but hopefully Brasilians will look back on the OC as a turning point on global warming. Athletes entrance was very well done! Loved the tricycles and escorts and the volunteers with the big pink arrow ponchos! It was well paced and the last two groups brought it to a perfect emotional crescendo. Yay refugees! Yay Brasil! Yaaaaay!!!!!! Finally, the final torchbearer choice was inspired--perfect, really. And the cauldron really is breathtaking. My score: 8.5/10.

They'll announce something Thursday or Friday. But think they should be banned from Rio entirely.

I love Budapest. In fact, I'm going back again in June. Marvellous city; lots of hawt men too (but too much smoking). Even if Budapest has a decent plan, Orban is reviled by traditional, Western European elites. His being evolved will kill their chances, like Erdogan did for Istanbul.

Toronto needs to grab the puck and go for it. Everything is converging. There's a public bounce in support, all levels of government are sharing in the glow of Pan-Am success and another OG in Canada is politically the opposite of China, Kazakhstan, Turkey or Azerbaijan. No other country does multiculturalism as well as Canada, period.

Ha! They're toast. This gives the IOC reasons to reject them. I expect the IOC will give the Norwegians whatever they want to stay in the bid. With the trade unions now on board, there's little risk for politicians to advocate for the bid.

Reno could totally bid for and win as host. The airport can handle it, there's tons of accommodation already and being back in the mountains would be great.

Man Munich should've fronted....they'd've won this in a walk. Krakow is toast.

I think Krakow is the dark horse here and could come up the middle--depending on the plebescite result. A lot of folks reticent to head to Beijing or Almaty might be willling to consider the deficiencies in the Krakow bid--IF Oslo drops out.

China does have some OWG currency: figure skating, freestyle skiing and short track. Not a major player, but not a development team country anyway. The big barrier is that NO ONE associates Beijing with winter sport--everyone associates it with horrible air quality.

Ceremonies: 9/10. These were excellent: stunning, really. SOCOG got this almost perfect. They lose 1 mark for the scheduling of the victory ceremonies: for the late night events, present the medals live--capture the moment. Look: 8/10. Looked great on TV for the most part and a great contrast in the coastal and mountain clusters. Operations: 7/10. The reports of incomplete and badly completed hotels make for a poor press and spectator experience. But with 20-30% of seats empty, they weren't fully tested for transport, accommodation etc. Sports: 9/10. Figure skating judging marred it, especially the ladies free skate--podium should've been Kim, Kostner and Soldnikova. Sports like short track always have controversies--nothing unusual there. Venues: Looked great and no sense of any major issues. But they should've created the best long track venue while they had the chance. Crowds/Atmosphere: 4/10. Empty seats at almost everything and crowds not nearly as passionate. Legacy: 6/10 Sochi is nice enough to make much of what's been built worth the effort (but not the cost). Depending on the security situation. Overall and general comments: 6/10. Better than I thought, but my expectations were low. Without exception, every Russian official or delegate I encountered in Vancouver was a jerk--or worse. I'm surprised we didn't get stories about volunteer snark. GamesBids Moments: #3, the larch. I anticipate Pyeonchang will rival Lillehammer for best Winter Games ever.

No way--Alice Munro's been in the hunt for over a decade. Finally the short story--and its greatest living purveyor--are recognised for what they are: great literature. Also awesome that she's a Canuck, but I would've been hoping for her, regardless.