Athan Posted January 8, 2013 Report Share Posted January 8, 2013 Palacio Vistalegre is not being used. No, in the end they've managed to keep all sports at IFEMA. The Olympic Park/Campo de las Naciones cluster is impressive now with so many sports, and when they're connected by metro, train and bus, travel times between them will be almost non-existent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FYI Posted January 10, 2013 Report Share Posted January 10, 2013 At this point, it just looks like Madrid is only there as a back-up plan. Sure, they could've been cut along with Doha & Baku, but Baku still needed to build a lot more & it's still a relatively smaller city. And while Doha has a lot of money, they're too busy spending it all on a dozen new stadias for a city that's even smaller than Baku. This is going to belong to either Tokyo or Istanbul. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob2012 Posted January 10, 2013 Report Share Posted January 10, 2013 No, in the end they've managed to keep all sports at IFEMA. The Olympic Park/Campo de las Naciones cluster is impressive now with so many sports, and when they're connected by metro, train and bus, travel times between them will be almost non-existent. The Olympic Park looks an impressive cluster now with athletics, swimming, gymnastics and cycling all together. All the big sports and the Olympic Village in an Olympic Park. Then you've got the smaller sports in a converntion centre, or cluster of pavillions, much like London, as well as using Real Madrid's facilities for others. That saves on building one off venues for minority sports. And outside of that there's some really striking peripheral venues, some temporary, others not. The basketball venue in the revamped Bull Ring, the Beach Volleyball on the lake, the Magic Box is a beautiful tennis venue etc. Whilst some of these changes give the impression of further cost cutting, I think the plan is still an intelligent one. There's a lot to like about this venue plan in all honesty. I do have concerns about whether the capacity of the main stadium and its lack of athletics legacy may be frowned upon - that is definitely a step backwards from 2012 and 2016 - but apart from that I do like what I see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stark Posted January 10, 2013 Report Share Posted January 10, 2013 Madrid's venue plan is more organized than in 2016. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob2012 Posted January 10, 2013 Report Share Posted January 10, 2013 Sickly sweet promo vid http://youtu.be/zWPEIGSrFCE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baron-pierreIV Posted January 10, 2013 Report Share Posted January 10, 2013 God, it sounds so manipulated. Too bad Spain could not have timed the 3rd try better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktoles Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 Obviously for me the biggest concern is the Spanish econonmy right now, it's in the crapper and it's not going to emerge any time soon, The athletics stadium also isn't the greatest, but hey Rio's is only 60,000 (when it's done of course) and that didn't stop them from winning the bid either. They have a compact bid (Obviously not to the effect of Tokyo's) but everything is fairly central and in good spots. I think right now it's running a solid second behind Tokyo with Istanbul a distant third (gross incompetence) but they've still got some things to overcome. If they win though, I will be very happy for them, the only city I'd be disgusted with is Istanbul. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thatsnotmypuppy Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 As with 2012 and 2016 I cant access the Madrid site (tried numerous computers - chrome, IE, firefox - always times out) so while I am sure their plans are relatively solid I have no further opinion to add. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktoles Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 Weird? what operating system are you using? I have no problems with the website and my laptop is 4 years old so its not exactly new. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ttwe Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 Is Madrid being underestimated? Majority of ppl are writing them off instantly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktoles Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 I think it's a solid bid and it would be a big mistake to write them off. Istanbul is grossly incompetent and would be a disaster for the IOC to go there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ttwe Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 I think it's a solid bid and it would be a big mistake to write them off. Istanbul is grossly incompetent and would be a disaster for the IOC to go there. I think using the word "disaster" to describe the potential of Istanbul is a tad bit overdramatic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intoronto Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 Is Madrid being underestimated? Majority of ppl are writing them off instantly. I don't think anyone is underestimating Madrid's capability. However the economic concerns has engulfed the entire bid unfortunately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktoles Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 I think using the word "disaster" to describe the potential of Istanbul is a tad bit overdramatic What I've seen from the lack of being able to put a website up on time (3 days late) and a very sub-par and lackluster bid book, I think it's a really bad idea to go there. I just don't see any upside to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FYI Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 "The athletics stadium also isn't the greatest, but hey Rio's is only 60,000 (when it's done of course) and that didn't stop them from winning the bid either." Rio, though, is hosting the ceremonies at the 90,000 capacity Maracana stadium. Plus, Rio had a great story to sell. Madrid's big narrative seems to only be 'the Olympics will help boost our struggling economy'. Not exactly a great selling point for a city that lies on a continent that's hosted the Olympic Games moreso than any other, & a country that's also already hosted not too long ago in Olympic terms. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runningrings Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 Sickly sweet promo vid http://youtu.be/zWPEIGSrFCE How boring. It is a nice video, but completely unoriginal and non-genuine. It almost reminds me of The Simpsons when Springfield bids for the Olympics - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npYwYXDeNUg Needless to say Springfield lost to Shelbyville. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stryker Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 Seating capacity of only 65,000 in the main stadium is a bit concerning. Why wouldn't Madrid then shift the ceremonies to Santiago Bernabeu where they could get at least 80,000 spectators like Rio is doing with the Maracana? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob2012 Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 (edited) Why wouldn't Madrid then shift the ceremonies to Santiago Bernabeu where they could get at least 80,000 spectators like Rio is doing with the Maracana? Two issues with that: 1. The Olympic village is literally across the road from Madrid's Athletics Stadium. You can use that for the ceremonies, or transport 10,000 athletes across the city to the Bernabeu (and back again after the ceremony), with all the extra hassle and security worry that entails. 2. The Maracana is not a normal football stadium. Its almost circular pitch is much better suited to an Olympic ceremony than the Bernabau would be. Also, strategically, I don't think there'd be much point. Madrid is offering a compact, low cost bid with short travel times and focus on athletes. They can't compete with either Istanbul or Tokyo on scale, so they need to play to their strengths. If the IOC want to go big, they won't choose Madrid anyway, so there's no point compromising their plan in that respect. Edited January 11, 2013 by RobH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob2012 Posted January 12, 2013 Report Share Posted January 12, 2013 Madrid Olympic Park... For a bid that's apparently a no hoper, it's really impressing me of late.... Doesn't this look great? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deawebo Posted January 12, 2013 Report Share Posted January 12, 2013 ^ Sure it does reminds me of London Olympic Park... Very centralized! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FYI Posted January 12, 2013 Report Share Posted January 12, 2013 Yeah, looks good. But I'm in love with the new, Tokyo 2020 National Olympic stadium design! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul Posted January 12, 2013 Report Share Posted January 12, 2013 Yeah, looks good. But I'm in love with the new, Tokyo 2020 National Olympic stadium design! Tokyo National Stadium 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athan Posted January 13, 2013 Report Share Posted January 13, 2013 Madrid Olympic Park... For a bid that's apparently a no hoper, it's really impressing me of late.... Doesn't this look great? If I'm not mistaken, the grey/white buildings in the upper left corner of this picture are the IFEMA pavillions, so you can see how close they are to the Olympic Park. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob2012 Posted January 13, 2013 Report Share Posted January 13, 2013 Looking at the interactive map on the Madrid website I think you're right. How well connected are the Olympic Park and IFEMA clusters by public transport? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athan Posted January 13, 2013 Report Share Posted January 13, 2013 Looking at the interactive map on the Madrid website I think you're right. How well connected are the Olympic Park and IFEMA clusters by public transport? As of today, the connection between them is terrible. The fastest way using public transport is by metro, and that takes 50 minutes! That's what Madrid 2020 is going to change. I'll try to explain with this map from Wikipedia: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/Metro_Madrid_y_Cercan%C3%ADas.png First of all, the Olympic Stadium is located in the eastern part of the metro line 7 (orange), at the "Estadio Olímpico" station. IFEMA is north from there on line 8 (pink), at "Campo de las Naciones". Both stations are well connected to the city centre but not to each other. According to the bid book, if Madrid is awarded the Olympics, they will build a "Villa Olímpica" ("Olympic Village") station on line 7 as well as an extension of line 5 (green) to another new station called "Centro Acuático" ("Aquatics Centre"). The strong point comes from the commuter rail. Metro line 8 ends at the airport, and from there you can see the train line C-1 that connects it to Chamartín (and goes on to other central stations). Well, there's a special line which doesn't appear on this map that goes from Chamartín to the eastern terminus of line C-2 (Guadalajara) that actually passes by both IFEMA and north of the Olympic Park. Madrid 2020 plans to build two stations on that line called "Recintos Feriales" ("Showgrounds") for IFEMA and "Paseo Olímpico" ("Olympic Avenue") for the Olympic Park. This way the two clusters will be connected to each other (with no intemediate stops) as well as to the central Chamartín station. The distance between IFEMA and the new "Paseo Olímpico" station is less than 5 km, so travel times will be minimal. Furthermore, there's one station already under construction on line C-1 ("Valdebebas") which is between "Fuente de la Mora" and the airport, next to the rugby and hockey venues, so that's also a good way to get there from both central Madrid and the airport. All these five new stations can be checked on the bid book maps. In short, to get from one cluster to the other, there will be a direct train line that will take around 5 minutes. To get to either cluster from central Madrid, apart from the train line departing from Chamartín, there will be three different metro lines to the Olympic Stadium, the Aquatics Centre and the IFEMA pavillions — nice move to divide the crowds in order to avoid saturations on a single line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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