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Your guesses about how Rome would have done in 2020 have no bearing on the choice of Rome vs Paris

Rome and Paris are both overflowing with great food and history (I must add that London doesn't have more history, and the less we say of the food, the better.)

Don't disrespect our history and food please. Thanks.

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Tony, you're making me hate this forum.

Ok ok. Let's get back to the topic of Paris 2024. I don't want to upset anyone.

I'm sure Paris will provide the IOC with a strong and impressive Bid, should they Bid.

I'm sure Paris will provide the IOC with a strong and impressive Bid, should they Bid.

Sorry. I accidently pressed post twice.

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I think we are all just involuntary subjects for a sociological study of Internet trolling. Tony is just collecting his data.

We have moved on from that now in all fairness. Well, I have.

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Don't disrespect our history and food please. Thanks.

In all seriousness the history is rather boring until Victorian Times (mainly because the English are to a degree more sane then the rest of Europe) and the food is very bad, exempt the Fish Fingers and Custard (I love that stuff and could eat it all day). All around London and the UK are very beautiful especially that beautiful Olympic Park.

But we all know America is the best, we got Coca-Cola, McDonalds, and Wal-Mart. Beat that! Hope I don't upset anyone.

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In all seriousness the history is rather boring until Victorian Times (mainly because the English are to a degree more sane then the rest of Europe) and the food is very bad, exempt the Fish Fingers and Custard (I love that stuff and could eat it all day). All around London and the UK are very beautiful especially that beautiful Olympic Park.

But we all know America is the best, we got Coca-Cola, McDonalds, and Wal-Mart. Beat that! Hope I don't upset anyone.

In all seriousness the history is rather boring until Victorian Times (mainly because the English are to a degree more sane then the rest of Europe) and the food is very bad, exempt the Fish Fingers and Custard (I love that stuff and could eat it all day). All around London and the UK are very beautiful especially that beautiful Olympic Park.

But we all know America is the best, we got Coca-Cola, McDonalds, and Wal-Mart. Beat that! Hope I don't upset anyone.

Your last sentence is false. Beat that! Hope I don't upset anyone.

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In all seriousness the history is rather boring until Victorian Times (mainly because the English are to a degree more sane then the rest of Europe) and the food is very bad, exempt the Fish Fingers and Custard (I love that stuff and could eat it all day). All around London and the UK are very beautiful especially that beautiful Olympic Park.

I'm not sure if that post is in jest, but if not your knowledge of the UK is about on a par with Tony's knowledge of ancient Rome.

Anyway, perhaps it's worth me reposting the velodrome news that's been swamped by all this...

And here's what I came into this thread to post in the first place, before I got distracted...

New velodrome aims to help French cyclists catch up with Great Britain

One of the abiding memories of the London Olympics in 2012 was French consternation at the tidal wave of British medal successes in track cycling. There was much Gallic muttering over the alleged use of "special wheels" by the perfidious Britons, deceptive tactics such as Jason Kenny's habit of underperforming between Olympics, and so on. On Thursday evening, however, the French cycling federation unveiled what they hope will be the key to unlocking Britain's dominance in the discipline, a sparkling, €68m velodrome in the outer suburbs of Paris.

Ironically, in view of the fact that from the outside its wood-clad exterior bears more than a passing resemblance to London's "Pringle", the French national velodrome is the only bricks and mortar legacy of Paris's abortive bid to host the Games that were awarded to the British capital. When London won the Games in 2005, the French Cycling Federation picked up the velodrome baton and ran with it.

The goal is that the velodrome will become a centre of excellence to compare with Manchester, where the British track cyclists have honed their skills since Lottery funding began in 1998.

As well as the 250m indoor track designed by the German Ralph Schürmann, - which on Thursday had that lovely fresh-sawn smell unique to new velodromes - the Velodrome National complex includes an Olympic standard BMX track – as does Manchester – plus accommodation for the 20-strong French national track cycling squad and 5-8 BMX racers, a 15km road racing circuit and mountain bike tracks. The objective is overt: the French want this place to become a cycling centre of excellence to match Clairefontaine in football and Marcoussis in rugby.

The World Cycling Centre director Fred Magne said: "I think France will go into a new dynamic here. For the trainers, it's a huge advantage to have the athletes all under the same roof. I don't think that it will be enough to beat the British in two or three years, but we will see results in the long term."

It may seem hard to conceive for the nation where cycle racing was born and which boasts the world's greatest cycle race, but France has lacked a world-class indoor velodrome since the demolition in 1959 of Paris's Velodrome d'Hiver, notorious for its use during the second world war as a holding camp for Jewish detainees en route to the concentration camps.

The tracks in Bordeaux and Grenoble do not come up to scratch, while the INSEP velodrome in the Paris suburbs where the French squad have trained up to now is so small in diameter that it becomes dangerous when sprinters such as Gregory Baugé and company hit top speed. It is said that when he met the great French sprint champion Daniel Morelon in the 1960s, President De Gaulle said he would build an indoor velodrome for the nation's sprinters; instead, the project was quietly forgotten until 2003.

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/jan/30/velodrome-french-cyclists-great-britain?CMP=twt_gu

FROM PARIS 2012'S BID...

3.jpg

LATER RENDERS...

image200912171026760.jpg

velodromestquentin.jpg

AND HOW IT LOOKS IN REALITY...

VelodromeExtdecCL105.JPG

RemiseClefVelodromeCL113.JPG[url=http://www.saint-quentin-en-yvelines.fr/fileadmin/portail/MEDIA/_Grands%20projets/Velodrome/En_images/final_decembre_2013/RemiseClefVelodromeCL113.JPG%5D'>http://www.saint-quentin-en-yvelines.fr/fileadmin/portail/MEDIA/_Grands%20projets/Velodrome/En_images/final_decembre_2013/RemiseClefVelodromeCL113.JPG%5D

Edited by Rob.
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I really would like to understand how France is seriously considering bidding again. The French leading media bash the Olympics day and night, the IOC is considered by the left wing leading parties and the Parisian intelligentsia as a corrupt gathering of aristocrats, ploutocrats and bureaucrats. François Hollande made a gesture of not going to the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics and went instead to a show by dwarf actor Jamel Debouzze (seriously) in Trappes. The commentaries of the Opening Ceremony on national television were a kind of lecture in geopolitics about how bad Putin, Russia and the IOC are, with nothing positive, about the joy of the Olympics, or the youth, or hope.

I am depressed. But I really think that France, my country, is sick. You don't organize the Games in a sick country. You fix it first.

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The French leading media bash the Olympics day and night, the IOC is considered by the left wing leading parties and the Parisian intelligentsia as a corrupt gathering of aristocrats, ploutocrats and bureaucrats.

Well, they're not really alone in that!

François Hollande made a gesture of not going to the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics and went instead to a show by dwarf actor Jamel Debouzze (seriously) in Trappes. The commentaries of the Opening Ceremony on national television were a kind of lecture in geopolitics about how bad Putin, Russia and the IOC are, with nothing positive, about the joy of the Olympics, or the youth, or hope.

I am depressed. But I really think that France, my country, is sick. You don't organize the Games in a sick country. You fix it first.

I think this is happening in every western country, not just France. It is kind of sad that we always look at the governments of other countries for these things and not at their people, but that has always been the case.

We have seen before that once a country moves further along the Olympic bidding process they become much more positive. I think Gallic pride will win over cynicism if the government pushes forward a strong bid. And I think Paris is really well equipped to do just that.

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I hope you are being sarcastic!

Your last sentence is false. Beat that! Hope I don't upset anyone.

I'm not sure if that post is in jest, but if not your knowledge of the UK is about on a par with Tony's knowledge of ancient Rome.

Anyway, perhaps it's worth me reposting the velodrome news that's been swamped by all this...

I was being EXTREMELY sarcastic. :lol::D;):P

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Well, they're not really alone in that!

I think this is happening in every western country, not just France. It is kind of sad that we always look at the governments of other countries for these things and not at their people, but that has always been the case.

We have seen before that once a country moves further along the Olympic bidding process they become much more positive. I think Gallic pride will win over cynicism if the government pushes forward a strong bid. And I think Paris is really well equipped to do just that.

Good points and I agree, the natinal pride and a strong bid can make goodwills -Just ask an angry Beijing after 1991 defeat or Tokyo in 2009-. Also, if Bach/IOC wants big boys in competition -Paris, USA- they need to use all the diplomacy to make the bridges.

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