TorchbearerSydney

Thanks for posting the African Games. It looks like the stadium was 80 percent empty...and the on field volunteers and VIPs looked miserable and bored.

Currently in Vietnam, and have been witnessing the violence of France's colonial past..and the vicious ferocity of her attempt to keep her Empire well into the 1950s.. .will not want to highlight that!

(As I predicted here)an easy win for Milan. This was a no brainer for the IOC- sensible risk management of a major decision. Stockholm had questionable public support, questionable political support at all levels and an untried multi country complication. Would love Sweden to host, but it will need a more polished bid to achieve success.

John Coates has a history of getting over excited and ahead of himself. The IOC would piss a lot of nations off if it secretly started handing out Games hosts with no process at all. And I find ANY argument about a rich nation like Australia spending too much on sport a joke- it is just a tweaking of priorities. Australia spends 40 billion+ a year on defence for example (we spend a lot for our population size), so in crude terms say 40 billion x 12 years to the Games= 480 billion.....The Games might cost say 12 billion over that time, that's 2.5 percent of the defence budget. Totally unnoticeable over that time frame.

Too many unknowns and complications in the Swedish bid (popular support? all levels of government support? 2 country games? etc)- the IOC will opt for the easier choice. Understandable.

Krakow is a great city, but the European Games have no profile...

Still think the Comm Games stench will affect any bid- they still haven't settled with all the contractors. Even Ric Birch wasn't fully paid (they said his work wasn't up to scratch). Delhi is now the most air polluted city on Earth, and summer temps are 50 plus...

I agree it is not Australia's turn, and it is not good for the Games...but having no host is worse, and it is a really great city...beautifully planned, huge gardens, major venues right in the city, good trains and trams, beaches etc.....so it will be a good, cheap Games that won't scare future cities (like a budget blowout Delhi or an Olympian scale Melbourne).

The 2026 Comm Games decision is only a few months away...and from all my searching there only seems to be one bid left- Adelaide (my new home)...The Comm Games Federation has been through town a number of times and been impressed, we have a new Government here in full support and no local opposition... So I suspect Adelaide it will be. Adelaide needs no new venues, hosts numerous festivals a year and can do it easily- accommodation will be tight though.

Invictus Games Opening- worst ceremony EVER..I am embarrassed for my city and country...D List celebrities, endless mindless chatter, patronising interviews, speeches galore- all on the most amazing setting ever, the Opera House steps. C R I N G E

Such a weird year for ceremonies- Russia, the grandmaster of spectacular ceremonies, pulled out a cheap and amateur opening ceremony, and then put on a magnificent World Cup. Flashy little Gold Coast put on a classy opening ceremony, a great new model for an affordable Commonwealth Games, and then pulled defeat from the jaws of victory with a truly appalling Closing, that was slammed in real time by the broadcasters! Then newbies Indonesia managed to upstage them all with great ceremonies and a great Asian Games...the biggest Games around, that were arranged with limited time after Vietnams withdrawal. Where that leaves us, who knows!

I would pick Melbourne over Brisbane (or Sydney) anyday as the next Aus host- it really could do it with four years notice if it had to.....its facilities are second to none. As people point out, it is the timing that is the issue....it is 2000km South of Brisbane, and the Games would have to be held from October.....Sydney just squeezed its in September (and luckily had unseasonally warm early Spring weather.

Prediction..the Tokyo 64 cauldron was lit by a 19 year old born on the day of the Hiroshima Bomb...the Tokyo 2020 cauldron will be lit by a 19 year old born in Sendai on the day of the tsunami???

Amen- the Youth Games are a joke- 99 percent of people don't know they exist. They are not televised anywhere. They were supposed to be a little 'budget' Games, then Singapore and especially Nanjing blew huge amounts of money on them. They should never have gone to China-they host the real thing.

I think Adelaide Oval will be wide enough as it is a cricket/ AFL pitch. It has an open end, so the track can be pushed out that way. It is the most sublime stadium- all lightweight and open, surrounded by parklands and in the centre of the city. Capacity about 55,000..