yoshi

The bigger question for 2036 is whether Coventry is as close to Russia as Bach was. My gut feeling is that St Petersburg was further advanced in talks with Bach than was let on, & was close to awarding at the time of the Ukraine invasion, with a view to sealing it at the Session in 2022. While even Bach's IOC wasn't that brazen, I don't think the plans would have just gone away - & there's no doubt Bach would've let Trump use it as a carrot during any negotiations. I think and hope there's a bit more distance between Coventry & Putin, but it's still something to watch out for with so much time still to go.

Lol Not quite the World Athletics Championships then...if Nairobi is entering the 29 race that spices up the decision. It really is time for this event to go to Africa, and East Africa in particular.

Rather that than "45 C, feels like 50" tbh

Isn't the World Athletics Championships a bit...big to be reduced to an Olympic test event? Can't remember exactly what London had as a test event, or any other Olympic host for that matter, but it was never a full Worlds. It should surely stand alone. (And in 2031, it should surely be time for Africa. Although I assume Saudi will be wanting it & I can't see World Athletics being any different to every other governing body...

I think 29 is London or Munich? London would be nice to have but it's spent longer away from Germany plus their hosting could be a help towards getting the big target (German Olympics) so Munich would be probably better overall. (I don't know why Barcelona have never done it either, seems obvious to me as a European host for these...)

Surely South Africa can do it? The 2010 stadiums & infrastructure hasn't just gone? (Must admit though, as much as obviously SA should get its second hosting like the other biggest countries have had, when it comes to the southern hemisphere, I've long thought Argentina deserves its chance now. Especially if they could have a few pool matches in some of the surrounding countries where rugby is a thing)

I'm not quite sure what that means tbh, what's the point of "educating" the members if they're not going to vote? Not sure what she's talking about, but then I'm also not sure it's fully developed yet if that's all there is. The review of timing is interesting - obviously there's not gonna be an 11 year lead time again but I wonder if, in this world where every extra bit of time is more chance for cost increases & instability, she might think that even 7 is too long? It'd certainly be a way to encourage cities to use existing infrastructure (or get what they need built before it gets on the Olympic books) if the lead time went down to 6 or even 5 years.

Well, I thought this was interesting from Sean Ingle earlier today: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/jun/23/kirsty-coventry-ioc-international-olympic-committee-president-thomas-bach He's usually both trustworthy & a bit cynical so I'd take this as encouraging. I feel cautiously optimistic tbh, with emphasis on both. We'll have to see what actually happens but she's saying a lot of the right things. There was a BBC article at the weekend that said she's already declined use of the Lausanne Palace hotel, which is a good start. I do get a sense (& very much hope) she won't just be Bach's puppet, there's too much steel there for that.

Can't imagine it'll be anything too elaborate. They'll need about 10 of the things after all!

Since it's not even called the Olympic cauldron now, presumably it belongs to the city of Paris & the IOC no longer has any say in how it's used? So if this year's flights are popular with locals & visitors like you say, there'd be nothing stopping them simply never taking it down? Unless it can't survive winter weather even if it stays grounded, but even then it could still be restored every summer. It deserves to be a fixture of Paris, not just for a memorial to the Games but also because it fits so well with the city, on the axis - and there's a nice symmetry with that other "temporary" ornament that became arguably the most famous landmark on the planet Edit: oh & also if the balloon is the memorial, Anne won't have to deface said landmark with having the Olympic rings permanently stuck to it. Nice in 2024, not really a permanent thing.

Lol it's pretty warm here too. Paris is still Paris, but the ceremony would've looked at its best of the weather was like this. Can't deny the rain added something even more special to Celine's performance though.

The only sad thing about this is the weather compared to the big night last year. Look how beautiful Paris looks with the sun setting & the sky clear. What might've been...

Is this a whole massive concert just for the cauldron? France really does celebrations properly (The cauldron goes so beautifully there. It should totally be there permanently, or at least just every summer beyond 28, so they can have a launch party every year!)

Very surprised at that I must say. I thought Canada, especially Ontario with Ford, would be certain to go for this - given that the Pan Ams were held in Toronto to give it venues, I'd have thought a Commonwealth Games would be an easy, low hassle way to assert Canadian identity now & over the next few years. Shame

Infantino is worse, easily. For all Bach's many faults, often shared with Infantino, like centralisation of power & micromanagement, he didn't actually try to change what the Olympics is. Even Brisbane, as dodgy and opaque as the awarding was, it'll still host a recognisable Olympics in 32, probably successfully. If anything one of Bach's biggest problems was reluctance to enact reforms that were needed, especially on the winter side. Bach also (AFAIK) never made an active attempt to cannibalise the existing competitions of a sport, as FIFA is attempting to kill the confederations (especially UEFA) with this "Club World Cup". He also didn't turn the IOC into a de facto arm of the Saudi government as FIFA has done, although I accept that he was very close to Russia so maybe that cancels out. And it might just be that Saudi seriously arrived too late for him. Finally, though Tom clearly loved the sound of his own voice, I don't think anyone in sports admin has ever held a candle to Infantino for egomania. The man has his own sticker in the Club World Cup album, and had his name engraved on the damn cup - twice! Like I say, I don't defend Bach, but Infantino is on a different level to him, and even makes me feel almost nostalgic for Blatter