128th IOC Session Olympic Bid Live Chat - Discuss 2020 YOG and 2022 Olympic Games Bid presentations here

[Quaker2001]

THey're even stupider than the USOC. Committing billions for sites unknown just to monopolize the product. Where is the economic sense in that.

The site doesn't seem to affect the value of the product. So why not commit to sites unknown. It's worked for them before.

[TeamBlakeUSA]

Beijing's Olympic Winter Bid Wasn't Too Bad, They Did A Successful Bid, Better Luck Next Time Almaty.

[Usa2024olympics]

I honestly just don't get the IOC. I see that they had a tough decision here and went with the "safe" choice but they have always been promoting the Olympic movement and moving it to different places around the world. They could've brought it to a different place where real winter passion grows but they chose the polluted city that hosted the games seven years ago.

Nothing angers me more than this:

"We know that Beijing will stand up to their promises"- Thomas Bach

It's so aggravating knowing that in 2008 Beijing didn't do **** to improve human rights but the IOC doesn't care. It just goes to show that the IOC doesn't give a rats ass about the Olympic movement. This is probably the most annoying I've been with them.....

[Quaker2001]

I honestly just don't get the IOC. I see that they had a tough decision here and went with the "safe" choice but they have always been promoting the Olympic movement and moving it to different places around the world. They could've brought it to a different place where real winter passion grows but they chose the polluted city that hosted the games seven years ago.

Nothing angers me more than this:

"We know that Beijing will stand up to their promises"- Thomas Bach

It's so aggravating knowing that in 2008 Beijing didn't do **** to improve human rights but the IOC doesn't care. It just goes to show that the IOC doesn't give a rats ass about the Olympic movement. This is probably the most annoying I've been with them.....

If you're going to be annoyed at the IOC, be annoyed that they scared off some decent European cities that would have made fine hosts for the Winter Olympics if the IOC had welcomed them. Would an Olympics in Almaty really grow passion for Winter sports in that region of the world? I'm skeptical about that one. Would they do anything to improve human rights? Doubtful. At least China is a nation of more than a billion people, so if even a fraction of them embrace the Olympics, it's more than the whole of Kazakhstan. And they're not without their own issues in terms of pollution and human rights either. This wasn't a landslide vote, either. A lot of people wanted an Olympics in Kazakhstan. But majority rules and China gets it. What else would you expect Bach to say after they win?

[jawnbc]

The cover story on this site makes a very clear argument for why Beijing was advantaged over Almaty. Worth a read.

[Pui from HK]

BTW, Sapporo is considering the 2026 bid and Busan in 2028.

[Roger87]

Stockholm/Are was a great possibility this morning! Had they stayed in, they literally would've ran away with it against Beijing & Almaty.

How a year can change that. Maybe Pillan will have her vindication after all lol.

Now, with Beijing opened the door, maybe Stockholm and Munich could join the list?

[baron-pierreIV]

BTW, Sapporo is considering the 2026 bid and Busan in 2028.

Right. Don't forget Jakarta and Shanghai and maybe Harbin again. (sarcasm, Pui...)

[Roger87]

Right now I think Kazakhstan has too many basic problems to be a good host. People are viewing this from the perspective of big evil China vs little Kazakhstan, but in fact China is more democratic than Kazakhstan, and is a better traditional commercial market. Meanwhile Kazakhstan is a dictatorship (with a dictator who will probably die before 2022, raising the specter of revolution right before the Olympics) with a tiny middle class and an oil-based economy.

If those things are resolved (the government democratizes and the public is educated) then I think Almaty will be a very attractive host.

Thank you.

[Kenadian]

This was a pretty stinky race. In the end, I was hoping for Almaty, but not wholeheartedly. Part of that was simply because I never felt that Beijing was truly deserving to be the first city to host both sets of games. It is just too soon after Summer 2008 and the city just doesn't strike me as a winter sports destination. I would have preferred Munich or Stockholm (or even Montreal or Helsinki) to have that honour because of the length between hosting, but it is not to be.

I must also state that I have no qualms about a Winter Games in China. Just wish it could have been a city other than Beijing.

[Roger87]

Right. Don't forget Jakarta and Shanghai and maybe Harbin again. (sarcasm, Pui...)

And Ahmedabad. Weren't there talks betweed Modi and Bach?

[StefanMUC]

How a year can change that. Maybe Pillan will have her vindication after all lol.

Now, with Beijing opened the door, maybe Stockholm and Munich could join the list?

What exactly about Beijing's election opened a door for Munich? It only confirmed the arguments of the No campaign here.

In fact I remember that when Beijing announced its bid a few days before our referendum, No campaigners already said: well, give it to China already, if they want it so much.

[Griff]

Right. Don't forget Jakarta and Shanghai and maybe Harbin again. (sarcasm, Pui...)

Jakarta? Lol. If that happen, one country won't compete then They're simply unwanted by the citizens. I couldn't even imagine to use my own country in GB competitions

[zigzag]

02

Jakarta? Lol. If that happen, one country won't compete then I couldn't even imagine to use my own country in GB competitions

02

Oh my.. if it is like that we really need to go with Jakarta for the next GB logo comp..

[JMarkSnow2012]

I wonder if he means turning those hotels into housing after the Games in addition to the OV. But if some previous host cities have had trouble just turning the Olympic village into housing, then how can they do that AND the hotels as well. Especially in a not-so very big market like Almaty, Sochi, etc.

I was thinking that big cities can always use extra housing (if only to replace old housing that's turning to slums), but there's not much use for extra hotels after the Olympics are over, so buildings that are designed to be converted from hotel use to housing might be useful.

Mostly Eastern Asia. 3 olympics in a row. I hope Japan, Korea and China enjoy them because they won't be hosting the games again in a looooooooooong time.

Around half the population of the planet lives between 70 degrees East and 170 degrees East.

[mr.bernham]

After sleeping on it...Beijing won't be too bad. At least the ceremony will be fantastic, and it will be so much fun to read the story's about how horrible China is in the lead up to the games, but I have a feeling that Rio will be my last games for a while.

[Ikarus360]

^^ And even Rio is not complety safe of some controversies, because of the delays they had with the construction of the venues (though they seem to had finally accelerated the process) and the troubles the brazilian economy is facing at this point.

Yeah, the ceremonies will be good, but if ceremonies determine how games end up being, then Delhi 2010 would had been the best CWG ever for example.

[Pui from HK]

Right. Don't forget Jakarta and Shanghai and maybe Harbin again. (sarcasm, Pui...)

Hey! Jakarta will host the 2018 Asian Games! Indonesia is considered as an emerging and one of the most promising countries in SEA, esp. after Widodo was elected as the president (check this guy. He is very different from other politicians). If Indonesia keeps improving, it would be very possible to see an Olympic bid from them, say, after 10 -20 years.

[FYI]

they were a far more attractive choice

According to whom? IMO, Almaty is only a step above of Baku-ko. Even having natural mountains doesn't dismiss the grey blockades of the city.

and would had shown that unknown smaller cities are also able to host the games.

Great, next race Reno, La Havane, Hambatona and Brasov need to pull an Olympic bid.

People were acting as if Kazakhstan was Norway, Brazil or even South Africa. There wasn't any good decision from this race. Each of both results results in the same criticisms. Why are people pretending like Kazakhstan was the "better option" as a full revisionism? I still don't get it.

I know! I don't fricken get it either. You'd think the way some people are reacting here (& some of them surprise me, bcuz of a few of those I've always thought them to be more much objective & impartial than they are being here about this "race"), that Beijing beat out Oslo instead (had they stayed in). And even still, the IOC looks like they were still very torn between these two big duds.

If you're going to be annoyed at the IOC, be annoyed that they scared off some decent European cities that would have made fine hosts for the Winter Olympics if the IOC had welcomed them. Would an Olympics in Almaty really grow passion for Winter sports in that region of the world? I'm skeptical about that one. Would they do anything to improve human rights? Doubtful. At least China is a nation of more than a billion people, so if even a fraction of them embrace the Olympics, it's more than the whole of Kazakhstan. And they're not without their own issues in terms of pollution and human rights either. This wasn't a landslide vote, either. A lot of people wanted an Olympics in Kazakhstan. But majority rules and China gets it. What else would you expect Bach to say after they win?

Exactly - if anything, Kazahkstan has many of the similar issues that China has, & maybe on a smaller scale, but that's simply due to the fact that it's a nation of merely 18 million.

The cover story on this site makes a very clear argument for why Beijing was advantaged over Almaty. Worth a read.

If anything, it maybe proves that IOC members need to forget about "sympathy" votes. Especially when you have only one ballot, like was the case here. Even when there's more ballots, you risk eliminating the city you really wanted to vote for in the first place, so why risk it by doing so TBW, The only thing surprising about this race was how actually close it was.

[Olympian2004]

2018: UTC+9

2020: UTC+9

2022: UTC+8

I'm sure NBC is just thrilled.

And probably not only NBC but also the European broadcasters. That way, we'll get four years of Olympic events taking place either at night (=the morning events at the Games) or in the morning and at noon (=the evening events). But ARD and ZDF here in Germany mostly dealt with previous Games in Asia and Australia by putting on an extensive summary of the day's events at primetime. I wonder whether Eurosport, the new primary broadcaster of the Olympic Games in Europe, will do the same.

[Quaker2001]

Exactly - if anything, Kazahkstan has many of the similar issues that China has, & maybe on a smaller scale, but that's simply due to the fact that it's a nation of merely 18 million.

For as long as it has been a 2-horse race, this has been a David vs. Goliath battle. So when Goliath wins, of course there's going to be a lot of sentiment that Goliath shouldn't win and why didn't they give David some love here. And much easier of course to point out flaws and get angry at big bad China when they beat the underdog (and it's not like they beat them by much). We can all point to flaws in the system that gave Beijing an edge, other than the natural ones that favor a bid like theirs over a bid like Almaty's and reasons that they should have lost. At the end of the day though, it was a really close vote. So as much as people can Monday morning quarterback this one to death, let's put this in the category of a Beijing 2000 or a Paris 2012.. bids that came closer to winning than history will give them credit for.

[StefanMUC]

I don't know what's hard to get about criticising the IOC's choice: Both options sucked for various reasons, but since it is WINTER Games that were decided, the lesser evil would have been the place where winter actually exists. Whether China is really so much more stable than Kazakhstan in seven years remains to be seen really, if that was really the dealbreaker here.

[AlexDS69]

I stand behind my sentiments.

[paul]

Whether China is really so much more stable than Kazakhstan in seven years remains to be seen really, if that was really the dealbreaker here.

...thats what I'm wondering

[FYI]

It's more than just "criticising" at this point, though. It's sanctimonious, pompous & petty rhetoric now with some of these posts since Beijing's win. It's one thing to state your opinion. It's quite another to try & trash the entire outcome because your pick didn't win.

I'd also say that China being "so much more stable" should be reason enough. I mean, really. I remember reading the times that how the IOC managed to avoid disaster both times Buenos Aires was on the ballot (for 1956 & 2004). On the former, they avoided a revolution not that much long after Melbounre won those Games. On the latter, an economic meltdown there in 2001. That alone should be enough to cause the IOC great concern. It's too much of a risk to take with such a big event like the Olympics, even if the chances of it happening might be remote in seven years time.

But then there's also the issue of infrastructure, there's not enough of it in Almaty. It's not just about the "venues". Spectators, dignitaries, the media, the IOC itself, etc ain't all gonna be staying at the athletes village.