TorchbearerSydney

Turkmenistan is a funny place...went a few years ago....sometimes ranked BEHIND Nth Korea in freedom indexes! But unlike Nth Korea (and the other Stans) it is enormously wealthy with gas. And they blow the money on crap like this, streets lined with marble palaces etc...

I find it funny looking at that stadium- it doesnt look THAT big- but it held 115,000! Looks smaller than the LA Colliseum or Birds Nest for example, but held a lot more people. Was an amazing venue during the Games...

So even if you cant see it in the stadium, when it is on the roof you can see it from outside in the park as you arrive and leave....and from across the city.....it is a good solution

I never understood why the 2012 cauldron could not have been wheeled out into the OLympic Park between the opening ceremony and the start of the athletics at least (thats 6-7 days)....sitting alone inside the stadium was pretty dumb. Coe snapping atpeople saying the cauldorn is not a tourist site didnt help.

Sorry, wrong thread!

Sorry, but does anyone care about the Youth Games?

Did they edit out the dropping and extinguishing of the torch at 1.19.00? That was the best part!

"ANZ Stadium is the proposed venue for the final while Eden Park in Auckland will likely host the opening ceremony and opening match....This is from the SMH..https://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/when-is-the-women-s-world-cup-all-you-need-to-know-about-the-tournament-20200626-p556ed.html ANZ (Olympic) Stadium in Sydney is hosting the final and also the closing as well (I presume)

Someone just put up a design- you will win! Thats how you get the Olympics these days as well!

With allocation of spots, Asia has a much stronger womens game than mens- so I would expect Asia to snag a few more spots. The opening ceremony is in Auckland, so a NZ match to open...not sure what day the first Australian match would be- maybe following? Dont know if anyone looked at the ANZ Bid video, it was pretty cheap and terrible. But with all the opposition dropping out it didnt really matter! The Head of England's FA is Prince William-the future King of Australia and NZ. So our future king's organisation voted against ANZ! I could understand if ANZ was a poor bid with a low technical ranking, but it won that as well! I hate the monarchy for many reasons...

I think you got my comment back to front.....not to worry!

I was wrong, hooray! But all of UEFA voted for Columbia...they called it a 'developmental tournament' for aspiring countries wanting to spread womens football. What a load of crap!

SO- this morning UEFA have said they will support Columbia, effectively sinking the AUS/NZ bid... They have apparently said they want to open the game to new frontiers....in a time of COVID, global recession, with only 3 years to organise an expanded tournament...I would have thought a super safe choice would have been the only sensible choice. But we are talking FIFA.....

Well it has become like a couple of recent Olympic Bids...candidates fell away until last one standing wins! The Aus/NZ bid is a good one and only 3 years before the Tournament. Both are virtually COVID free and can get on with preparations immediately. Thursday for the vote!

The election will be very close...Queensland is a strange place- only one house of Parliament, prominent 3rd and 4th parties, ever changing voting rules etc....it is anyones guess at the moment!