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Your top 5 Olympics that never were


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I already mentioned Salzburg 2014 earlier. It would've been one of the most practical, reliable & majestic Winter Olympic Games. Certainly would've been the most picturesque outta the three running finalists for those Games, that's for sure.

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Detroit 1968? How come? The 60s axe has been one of the most interesting in Olympic history: Rome-Tokyo-Mexico City. Detroit could have done it back in 1932 or 1984 when there was only a bidder, and still not so appealing.

Detroit back then, was in it's hay-day. It was one of the country's prosperous cities, with the automotive industry booming at the time, & Motown. It would've been an appropiate choice at the time. Especially with that massive stadium & facilities that they were proposing, which we all know the IOC loves.

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1968 - yes Detroit, America right on top of the world...but this was a year of massive social unrest, massive riots?

Well, it's not like Mexico City wasn't without its own social unrest. Ten days before the opening of the 1968 Summer Olympics, there was the killing of many university students by police who were protesting against the government. Let's also not forget the London riots of 2011 where people were mentioning concern on the upcoming 2012 Olympics.

I had read an article that mentioned Detroit actually had a good chance of winning the 1968 Summer Olympics, due to concerns over the other bidders. But obviously, in the end, Mexico is where the IOC wanted to go anyway. And who knows, had Detroit won, maybe things would've been significantly different during prep time.

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-Buenos Aires 1956

-Los Angeles 1980 or 1976 with Moscow hosting later. Just to see how different it could have been then and if there would have been boycotts.

-Athens or Melbourne 1996

-Cape Town 2004

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Detroit back then, was in it's hay-day. It was one of the country's prosperous cities, with the automotive industry booming at the time, & Motown. It would've been an appropiate choice at the time. Especially with that massive stadium & facilities that they were proposing, which we all know the IOC loves.

1968 was the year America imploded - Vietnam got outed as a nasty war, Racial unrest climaxed, the presidential nominations ended in tragedy, students went on the rampage. In the middle of all this around August, Detroit would host thd Olympics? IOC dodged a bullet there...pugnacious and arrogant US born IOC president Avery Brundage must have known what was comming way back in 1962.

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1968 was the year America imploded - Vietnam got outed as a nasty war, Racial unrest climaxed, the presidential nominations ended in tragedy, students went on the rampage. In the middle of all this around August, Detroit would host thd Olympics? IOC dodged a bullet there...pugnacious and arrogant US born IOC president Avery Brundage must have known what was comming way back in 1962.

I think that had the US won the games that it certainly would have been memorable. Maybe it's me being optimistic, but I think winning would have had a major impact on the climate. These games would have an even larger effect on world events.

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Forgot a really important one, Stockholm 2004 could have been really special reverting towards the old times and turning around the trend of extravaganza in a beautiful city. Some may say it is too small, but if Athens managed to do it, Sweden could also have pulled it through.

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San Francisco 2016!! I still curse the Yorks/de Bartolo for their scuttling SF's Olympic hopes with their PURELY selfish and self-serving move to Santa Clara. Cue Quaker2001 to defend the wretched move...

Sorry baron that the de Bartolo/York family chose to prioritize the long term health of their football franchise over providing the Bay Area with a slightly less minuscule chance of landing an Olympics and satisfying your hopes and dreams :P

Seriously though, if I lived in the Bay Area, my beef would be that they moved the team half an hour outside San Francisco. Probably not too many people other than you who look at it from the standpoint of a potential Olympic bid. Yea, it sucked for their Olympic aspirations that 49ers eventually set up shop elsewhere and it didn't worked out with the Candlestick/Hunters Point site. But they own the team. They're allowed to be a little self-serving in that regard.

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Seriously though, if I lived in the Bay Area, my beef would be that they moved the team half an hour outside San Francisco.

Yeah, maybe if you encounter NO traffic along the way. But realistically, allow yourself about twice as much, especially during peak times.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

I'd really like to see:

Summer Games :

  • Belgrade 1992
  • Athens 1996
  • Cape Town 2004
  • Moscow 2012 (pardon me for being russian freak :D )

Winter Games :

  • Östersund 2002
  • Zakopane 2006
  • Sarajevo 2010

Well, some of them were just really personal wish, without thinking whether it's realistic or not :)

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I'd really like to see:

Summer Games :

  • Belgrade 1992
  • Athens 1996
  • Cape Town 2004
  • Moscow 2012 (pardon me for being russian freak :D )

Winter Games :

  • Östersund 2002
  • Zakopane 2006
  • Sarajevo 2010

Well, some of them were just really personal wish, without thinking whether it's realistic or not :)

Neo-Yugoslav Sarajevo, nice

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I know this one is far-fetched and will seem pretty ridiculous in everyone else's eyes but:

Houston 2012

We needed it. We needed that to remodel our Astrodome into an indoor track and field stadium, and we also needed it to improve our public transportation. And it would have made for a fairly easy Olympics to attend since I live here.

Also Madrid 2016 or 2020. Had it not been for their high unemployment rate and doping scandals, they would have fared better.

Also I think Toronto 1996 would have been great.

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^^ Houston proposed to turn the Astrodome into an athletics stadium? Now that's a silly proposal there. Why not just build a new stadium?

at the time to convert the Astrodome into an athletics stadium it would have only cost us an estimated $80 million at the time. The stadium was still in very good condition so not too much would have had to been done with it.

Also we had a new NFL stadium, the NRG/reliant stadium, a couple of years before the Olympic bid attempt. That would have been the location for the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as the soccer finals.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Athens 1996, obviously. Therefore, I'd say 2004 should've gone to Cape Town.

The 60s were perfect, Detroit anywhere there might have been interesting but never as defining as any of those cities. Actually, Detroit being the biggest Olympic loser ever is sort of an interesting omen.

Rio 1936 would've been incredible in terms of architecture with Niemeyer, Costa and Burle Marx emerging, so they would have been probably involved. Le Corbusier could've been invited.

And 2012 for booming Istanbul. Paris and NYC would've been great, too.

Havana 1920. Antwerp, WTF.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Rome 2004

Paris 2012

Salzburg 2014

Chicago 2016

Istanbul 2020

By now, it would've been time for another damn Games there. And this time, in Sub-Saharan Africa! :-P

lol hahaha

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Rio 1936 would'

never have happened because there wasn't jet travel yet. Remember the majority of participating nations were in Europe and No. American and a smattering in Asia & So. America. And that's why St. Louis 1904 and the 1932 Games were not as universally attended as the European Games were becuz transoceanic transport was difficult, long and expensive.

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  • 3 years later...

Sion 2006 obviously.

The original proposal from Nice (in 1985) to have the Winter and Summer Games in sequence in the spring of 1992 over four weeks. It was before Albertville and Paris appeared. Was called "Les Jeux puissance deux".

Anchorage Winter Games.

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