The Worst WOG of the history

[Tulsa]

2018 It's Korea time, but Korea doesn't care, since Friday WoG are boring, without public, without emotion... Excepted in skating, the other venues are empty of public or supporters. The main parts of venues will become white elephant after march... The WoG seem 100% artificial.

When I see public fervor in Europe or North america, this WoG should not happen in Korea. IOC piss off European countries since too many years. WoG are dead in 2018. 

Time zone is the worst for everybody and the tv realization is horrible for many sports like Biathlon, it's impossible to follow a race in good condition... Why IOC did that ? And why they will do that again in 2022 ?

[anthonyliberatori]

9 minutes ago, Tulsa said:

Time zone is the worst for everybody and the tv realization is horrible for many sports like Biathlon, it's impossible to follow a race in good condition... Why IOC did that ? And why they will do that again in 2022 ?

Now you know how Asians feel every 2 years ... 

[Sir Rols]

Surprise, surprise. Still munching sour grapes after 7 years. 

 

[Tulsa]

8 minutes ago, anthonyliberatori said:

Now you know how Asians feel every 2 years ... 

Excepted in Japan but if not Asians don't care about Winter Sports... It's not popular there... Sorry but it's not an acceptable answer. 

[anthonyliberatori]

Just now, Tulsa said:

Excepted in Japan but if not Asians don't care about Winter Sports... It's not popular there... Sorry but it's not an acceptable answer. 

I was referring to the time zone comment, which is why I specifically quoted only the part about the time change. When Paris hosts in 2024, Koreans will be 8 hours ahead, and will have to watch things delayed. When LA hosts in 2028, Koreans will be 17 hours ahead. If your location is correct and you do live in France, you will be 9 hours ahead from LA in 2028, and you had the same time difference when Calgary hosted in 1988 and Salt Lake hosted in 2002 that you do right now with Pyeongchang 2018. Did you mind when Calgary and Salt Lake hosted? Or are you just upset because Pyeongchang had to beat your beloved Annecy to be hosting right now?

[Sir Rols]

3 minutes ago, anthonyliberatori said:

Or are you just upset because Pyeongchang had to beat your beloved Annecy to be hosting right now?

Of course he is - he’s been spitting his dummie for the past 7 years.

Quite honestly, PC doesn’t have to do much beyond getting through the 16 days unscathed to already start to repair some of the damage done to the WOGs reputation that Sochi’s big spending did.

[Rob2012]

RE: the thread title. I'd suggest the nation that ran a state sponsored doping scheme whilst hosting has a bigger claim.

[yoshi]

Only mistake the IOC made (with hindsight admittedly) with Pyeongchang is going there 4 years late. This in 2014, & Sochi wouldn't have happened, & it's not a big leap to think that we'd now be watching Munich 2018 - handing off to Oslo on Sunday week. To be fair to IOC, I don't think anyone could've seen in 2007 just how bad it would get, & at the time it felt like a good, positive step, but as it turned out, picking Sochi over PC ended up being possibly the worst decision they ever made. 

[Ikarus360]

When I saw who did this thread on the index page I knew I was going to enjoy some nice salt.  

Shouldnt you be happy Paris will get to host the games, though?

2 minutes ago, yoshi said:

Only mistake the IOC made (with hindsight admittedly) with Pyeongchang is going there 4 years late. This in 2014, & Sochi wouldn't have happened, & it's not a big leap to think that we'd now be watching Munich 2018 - handing off to Oslo on Sunday week. To be fair to IOC, I don't think anyone could've seen in 2007 just how bad it would get, & at the time it felt like a good, positive step, but as it turned out, picking Sochi over PC ended up being possibly the worst decision they ever made. 

Definitely. Given the huge damage Sochi did to the Olympics, I wish sometimes we could turn back time and made the right long-term choice. They deserved it more but alas, the IOC has a long tradition of bowing down to rich tyrants. 

[anthonyliberatori]

15 minutes ago, yoshi said:

Only mistake the IOC made (with hindsight admittedly) with Pyeongchang is going there 4 years late. This in 2014, & Sochi wouldn't have happened, & it's not a big leap to think that we'd now be watching Munich 2018 - handing off to Oslo on Sunday week. To be fair to IOC, I don't think anyone could've seen in 2007 just how bad it would get, & at the time it felt like a good, positive step, but as it turned out, picking Sochi over PC ended up being possibly the worst decision they ever made. 

Definitely agree. I think the IOC learned their lesson with choosing Sochi, and hopefully they work with Beijing to make sure Beijing can build off of the work Pyeongchang is doing and will do in order to bring back Winter Games hosts. Beijing started with a $3.1B USD budget I believe, and after Sochi, I think the IOC will work with Beijing to make sure they do not repeat Sochi's inflation. At least one can hope.

[Barcelona_'92]

All I’m going to say is that it’s very sad to see almost empty stands at every snow event so far.  The athletes deserve a much better environment than this.

[Tulsa]

2 hours ago, anthonyliberatori said:

Or are you just upset because Pyeongchang had to beat your beloved Annecy to be hosting right now?

I don't care about Annecy, of course is a better place than Pyeongchang to host WoG, but everywhere in Europe would have been better place than Korea. Munich, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden etc. It will be the same with China in 2022. 

 

Time change is a problem because isn't good for North America and Europe... 

[anthonyliberatori]

3 minutes ago, Tulsa said:

I don't care about Annecy, of course is a better place than Pyeongchang to host WoG, but everywhere in Europe would have been better place than Korea. Munich, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden etc. It will be the same with China in 2022. 

 

Time change is a problem because isn't good for North America and Europe... 

Again I say, they deal with the issue of the time zones much more often than North Americans and Europeans do, and the Asian countries are the countries with the high population. You can't eat your cake and have it too. If the Olympics are held in your country,  or in your time zone, you must also understand that there will be times when they are not in your country or time zone. Grow up.

[TorchbearerSydney]

As far as empty seats go, they have to do something about ticketing. I would have gone to Korea except the only way for me to get tickets was through the stupid agency- that charges a fortune for a few D class tickets (first round curling, womens hockey, etc)....  they didn't open the general ticket office to the world, even late, so I wasn't going to risk getting to Korea and try my luck.

Now I sit at home and see empty seats I would have happily bought, lets say 3 months ago. 

Arrgh...but every Games is the same.

[mr.bernham]

Pyeongchang has already done immeasurable improvement to the image of the movement. The games have been peaceful, responsible, well run, and well designed. In hindsight I wish they had won hosting rights for 2014. Could you guys imagine the glowing coverage the movement would have received following a successful Vancouver, London, then Pyeongchang? The only sore spot would be Rio, but Rio would be quickly forgotten with a probable Munich 2018 and Tokyo 2020. 

Regardless, the past is in the past. I'm just happy Pyeongchang has already gone so swimmingly. I honestly feel like the Olympics are back...I have the spirit again. Looking forward to Tokyo and Beijing...even with the time delay.

[anthonyliberatori]

44 minutes ago, mr.bernham said:

Pyeongchang has already done immeasurable improvement to the image of the movement. The games have been peaceful, responsible, well run, and well designed. In hindsight I wish they had won hosting rights for 2014. Could you guys imagine the glowing coverage the movement would have received following a successful Vancouver, London, then Pyeongchang? The only sore spot would be Rio, but Rio would be quickly forgotten with a probable Munich 2018 and Tokyo 2020. 

Regardless, the past is in the past. I'm just happy Pyeongchang has already gone so swimmingly. I honestly feel like the Olympics are back...I have the spirit again. Looking forward to Tokyo and Beijing...even with the time delay.

!!!!!!!!!!

[Faster]

Salzburg would have been a better option for 2014.

[A-Money1983]

Which was tougher on the Olympic movement as a whole?  Sochi or Rio?

[Nacre]

6 hours ago, Barcelona_'92 said:

All I’m going to say is that it’s very sad to see almost empty stands at every snow event so far.  The athletes deserve a much better environment than this.

This complaint is made at every Olympics. And it's the Olympic family themselves that are to blame.

Beyond that most snow events are pretty bad for live spectators. I live a half hour drive from the ski area with the world's oldest snowboarding tournament and I would say that 1% of the fun comes from watching the snowboarders pass by and 99% of the fun comes from the camaraderie, barbecued seafood and craft beers.

[thatsnotmypuppy]

6 hours ago, Barcelona_'92 said:

All I’m going to say is that it’s very sad to see almost empty stands at every snow event so far.  The athletes deserve a much better environment than this.

A - Tulsa can just go fuckk off.  Annecy was never getting these Games.  Germans have the right to feel a bit salty right now - not the French.

B - The ticket prices are the problem.  Too much for the locals and shitty accommodation options and ridiculous mark ups by CoSport have kept international tourists away.  They had this issue with Sochi as well - I find it hard to believe that CoSport are making much money off these Games if any.  The glut of tickets for pretty much every event is very telling.  If they were half the price and there was a decent amount of hotels nearby (Seoul was an iffy option) there would have been more interest. It just got too hard for me - the late night sessions are insane.

Hopefully Tokyo won't be too expensive (I know - stupid hope) and Beijing should be more affordable.  Both have no accommodation issues so it should be better. 

I worry for Japan a bit - most sports and concert tickets are rarely above ¥9,000-¥11,000 - so if ticket prices for most events go above this or they don't offer family tickets (which they did in Nagano), they will have issues at more than a few sports.

[Ikarus360]

1 hour ago, A-Money1983 said:

Which was tougher on the Olympic movement as a whole?  Sochi or Rio?

I think Sochi, hands down. At least Rio didn't wasted nearby 50 billion dollars and did state sponsored doping. Both combined were a deadly cocktail to Olympism, though, since Rio left huge question marks about the legacy the games leave to cities. 

[BigVic]

What were the ticket prices like for Nagano 1998 

[StefanMUC]

1 hour ago, thatsnotmypuppy said:

Germans have the right to feel a bit salty right now - not the French.

 

Indeed :'(

I'm sitting there watching on TV and wondering how it would have been right now, with the Olympic Park just 20 minutes drive from my home...

As for the criticism of PC, I'm really annoyed by this whole North & South peace PR - obviously aiming at a Nobel Prize more than at achieving a real solution for the peninsula.Also, the timetable of events really is questionable, even though it's obvious that it was made to fit North American and European TV. The ski jumping on Saturday was prime time in Germany (and of course with a gold to crown it), but it wasn't really good TV given the long delays. When I then hear that during SK daytime, the wind situation would normally be better for ski jumping, then TV stations and IOC should begin to find a more balanced approach.

Audience reactions and attendances are pretty much in line what I would expect in East Asia though. Also in Germany, some sports draw much more interest while others would get half-empty venues at least for the earlier rounds, I guess.

The worst thing ever happening to the Olympics was Sochi. But as long as the IOC doesn't recognise it (including its fake ban on Russia), I doubt that we'll recover from that soon. Bach and his cronies, also in the international federations, have to go before faith is completely restored.

[thatsnotmypuppy]

1 hour ago, BigVic said:

What were the ticket prices like for Nagano 1998 

So apart from the ceremonies, ice hockey finals, figure skating, speed skating finals and ski jumping finals (and then only the top price brackets) all the tickets were quite affordable.

[Tulsa]

3 hours ago, thatsnotmypuppy said:

A - Tulsa can just go fuckk off.  Annecy was never getting these Games.  Germans have the right to feel a bit salty right now - not the French.

Why ? Annecy is a perfect place, like a lot of other cities in Europe (Innsbruck, Salzbourg, Sion, Lillehammer, Oslo, Munich etc.) Annecy could have been similar than Lillehammer 1994. When you see Sotchi, Peyongchang, Bejing, never the European countries would host again WoG.