TorchbearerSydney

My partner has a major media presence here in Adelaide, and has been in constant battle with the Premier. We have been aggressively agitating about Adelaide hosting the Games- and the Premier has been forced to publicly face this issue again. I suspect we have played a role in Adelaide rethinking its withdrawal. Their first bid said it would cost a ridiculous $3 billion plus- the new figure of $1 billion is much more realistic. Adelaide has all the venues (including a magnificent stadium, Aquatic Centre, Velodrome, etc)...no reason it should be an expensive games.

Notice how many black suited security guards rushed out!! Also I think this ''horse race'' at the time was the worlds richest- the President ""won"" millions for winning it!

Lets not forget that the Turkmen President famously won the nations richest horse race (what a surprise)...and then....( I can guarantee you that this video is not available in Turkmenistan!)

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!

Sydney Olympic Closing is being officially posted tomorrow...Finally!

I was very surprised Australia/NZ topped the evaluation reports- including commercial opportunities. I thought Japan would have been miles ahead.

The IOC has switched to super-safe bids these days- US Canada/ Western Europe/ Australia/ China/ Korea and Japan......in an era of crazed Presidents, recessions, Pandemics, Climate change etc...this trend will only be reinforced.

Absolutely- but he and fellow right wing nutjob Pauline Hanson are very loud. There is a state election on Queensland later this year..., so the attitude of the opposition maybe critical to the bid (should they win). I think they are on board, but I suspect they may change their mind in a desperate attempt to win votes.

I thought Japan would win easily- with its venues and WC Performances....But Australia and NZ and basically COVID free- that could be an attraction, with preparations able to start straight away on all fronts and Japan to host an Olympics next year.

Cant see cricket getting into the Games- it is played in so few countries, the West Indies would need to be split up, the GB team is Éngland' etc... Coates seems to be a particularly nasty and vindictive character- and very ambitious. I cant see him being able to charm the IOC to take the Presidency.

Australia is a safe pick in these times..and sadly epidemiologists are predicting global pandemics more regularly in the future... Australia is spending (ie wasting) $100 billion plus on new submarines, and $100 billion plus on new strike fighters at the moment. So I never wont to here that we cant afford 3-5 billion for the Olympics!