TorchbearerSydney

Looks like a cosmetic brand to me, definitely doesnt scream ''Olympics''. When I first glanced at it, I thought the first one would be a woman, and the second one a man, representing all humanity....my partner looked at it and said, it is sexist, with a sexy double entre feel (french kiss etc.)...

Thanks for the Nagano update..didn't know that. Shame, it is only a short bullet train ride from Tokyo...and would have had nice mountain scenery for the road race.

I was wondering about the road cycling..maybe somewhere closer like Nagano, that is in the mountains, surely it is much cooler (and closer than Sapporo)?

Indeed, I was there last year. A lovely country, but very poor these days. Chernobyl clean up still consumes 10 percent of GDP and Russia has only recently invaded and annexed much of the country..

Dont worry, it will come and go in the blink of an eye!

Having been to 50 countries in the last 10 years- from Turkmenistan to Chile....the answer is no. Can't believe all the sports Federations selling their souls to go to Qatar, when bids from real sports nations, like Spain and Australia, are knocked back.

OMG...Qatar is such a dump (spent time there last year) and that ceremony of video cliches and men giving speeches for half an hour was dire. Money can't buy taste or class. Now with empty stadiums for example, less than 3000 people for the womens 100m final. Thanks IAAF (and soon FIFA).

I thought it was fantastic....each to their own!

The Rugby World Cup ceremony was fantastic- especially as it was a quick, 20 min ceremony conducted on the playing surface. Colorful, hi tech, fun. great music, easy to read and understand the motifs and concepts ...ceremony of the year for mine.

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...