Lord David Posted October 1, 2013 Report Share Posted October 1, 2013 Perhaps now Toronto is more of an "Alpha" city, but in 1990 when the 1996 race was going on, it certainly wasn't a city that would have eclipsed any of the others on the list. And even today, it's still no London, Paris, New York or Tokyo. Why do you always get your panties in a bind whenever someone mentions that. All your citing are the TECHNICAL aspects of the Melbourne 1996 bid. And since when do Olympic bids win on that element alone, besides hardly ever. Especially when you even say yourself that Melbourne was "just as" technically capable as Atlanta was. Fact of the matter is, other than Athens, there was no real compelling candidate for 1996. So in that type of scenario alone, yes the 1996 field was weak. And some other element then had to be taken into account when the vote came about. And much like 2020, that came about to be that the IOC just wasn't comfortable enough to award Athens the Centennial Games & went with the one they felt could bring the most financial & stable reward. Melbourne did offer more than the technical requirements, culture, multiculturalism, the large Greek population which would be symbolic because Athens couldn't host anyways. Then we have the technology. The 1988 New Years Bicentennial special proved we could do it and even back then we were looking at the possibilities of broadcasting in high definition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runningrings Posted October 1, 2013 Report Share Posted October 1, 2013 Some of these things any western city of 1990 could have boasted. But I agree there wasn't anything exactly wrong with the bid, it was an exiting idea too- a super compact, downtown Olympics (unlike what Sydney presented for 2000) Melbourne's downfall suffered from the lure of Sydney and US fiscal responsibility. Anyway, meanwhile in Calgary... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FYI Posted October 2, 2013 Report Share Posted October 2, 2013 Melbourne did offer more than the technical requirements, culture, multiculturalism, the large Greek population which would be symbolic because Athens couldn't host anyways. . Multiculturalism is way overrated on these boards. That aspect didn't help Toronto nor Chicago in any way either. And if you wanna bring up Melbourne's Greek aspect, let's not also forget that Atlanta was also selling itself as a progressive African American city (an "African" Olympics substitute), the Birthplace of civil right activists MLK & the bid committee was trying to reel in those African delegates with those points. Then we have the technology. The 1988 New Years Bicentennial special proved we could do it and even back then we were looking at the possibilities of broadcasting in high definition. Sorry, but this is just grasping at straws now. This is neither here nor there, really. You can come up with arguments 'til you're blue in the face, but obviously nothing that Melbourne was selling was enough to overwhelmingly convince the majority of IOC members. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George_D Posted October 2, 2013 Report Share Posted October 2, 2013 Weak field? Melbourne had a great bid which would have been dramatically different to the 1956 Olympics. Many venues including Rod Laver Arena, The Melbourne Cricket Ground, Equestrian Centre, State Baseball Centre, International Shooting Centre, Royal Exhibition Centre etc were already existing. Only the Rowing Centre, new Exhibition Centre and Melbourne Sports and Aquatics Centre needed to be built. The fact that the MCG was slated for upgrades (Great Southern Stand) in time for the 1992 Cricket World Cup, ensured that the main stadium for ceremonies and athletics would be well completed ahead of time (allowing only for the other venues to be concentrated on). The 103,000 capacity was more than Atlanta's or any of the others. Our transport infrastructure at the time was just as good as Atlanta's and our accommodation plan was solid (where rental properties would have made the shortfall in existing accommodation numbers). Atlanta's a delta hub? Ok, fine, it has a big airport but even for the 1996 bid Melbourne proposed the possibility of a 2nd airport in Avalon, which would have been built sooner if Melbourne Airport was insufficient in capacity. Well that's my rant, but I wouldn't exactly have called Melbourne's bid weak. Toronto's wasn't (for 1996) weak either, as they boasted of having the world's most advance stadium at the time, only problem was that it wouldn't be able to host anything other than baseball, a new stadium was inevitable, but the legacy plan would have likely rendered it a white elephant. Personally, I think Sydney 1996 would have been weak. The idea of building a brand new stadium of 80,000+ just 3 years after Sydney Football Stadium, a stadium of 45,000 which was sufficient for Sydney's needs? I think it would have got a lot people against the games. can we have melbourne 1996 bid plan? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runningrings Posted October 2, 2013 Report Share Posted October 2, 2013 can we have melbourne 1996 bid plan? It should be somewhere online - but it was very similar to the Commonwealth Games - which more or less used a scaled down version of the 1996 Olympic bid as its template for 2006. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zekekelso Posted October 2, 2013 Report Share Posted October 2, 2013 OK, getting back to Calgary.... Hockey season is opening and the Saddledome is ready. *Nobody* thought that possible after the floods. +1 to Calgary for being able to get stuff done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baron-pierreIV Posted October 3, 2013 Report Share Posted October 3, 2013 /\/\ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord David Posted November 2, 2013 Report Share Posted November 2, 2013 Well back to Calgary, after watching the Opening Ceremonies of the 1988 Games (you know the one on Youtube with Dutch commentary), I think it could be a possibility for them to host a 2nd time, even before Quebec City gets their shot.Imagine the Opening Ceremonies at a modernized McMahon Stadium for the 2022 or 2026 Games? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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