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Who Do You Think Will Win 2014?


SOlympiadsW

Who will win 2014?  

135 members have voted

  1. 1. Candidate Cities:

    • Salzberg, Austria
      38
    • PyeongChang, South Korea
      46
    • Socchi Russia
      51


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Exactly.

Once those members start arriving in Guatemala, I'm sure we're going to see a lot more action, and not just the 2014 decision (I assume there'll be live threads here for THAT particular piece of proceedings).

Between the London logo and the upcoming decision, it's actually been one of the busier times on the board for this year at least!

I'm relatively new to following this - got the bug looking back on Paris failed bid, but this looks close and all three cities could win it

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This may not be the most valid of reasons, but I fully support PC for the impact it could make on future elections... European cities would duke it out for 2018 claiming it's the continents "turn". This could then set up 2020 to be a wide open race, where Cape Town or Rio could finally take it.

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wow.....19 days till the decision and these forums are like, dead.

I guess that's the result of having a lack of Anglo bids this time around. I can only assume the die-hards who supported Toronto, Vancouver, London and New York in previous bids on these English-speaking forums are mostly watching the 2014 race from afar. Nevertheless, there are a handful here such as myself who have placed a great amount of emotional investment in this race. It is people like I who will be either extremely ecstatic or utterly devastated come July 4.

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I believe PyeongChang is the favorite and Sochi, who have made great progress in the last mounts, could very well win it. As much as it pains me to say it (becose I would have loved to see Salzbourg get the WOG, hopefully in 2018...), I doubt Austria has much of a chance to land those games.

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2 more weeks to go! :o

I didn't get to watch the BBC show because it was meant for Asian and Middle Eastern people only, but the BBC had a "Pedshardt's (sp?) People" episode in which the main journalist talked to, I believed, one of the PyeongChang 2014 bid committee supporters about his city's and Korea's chances of landing the nation's second Olympic Games.

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It does seem like Sochi is the one making the strong final sprint. I'm still not ready to write any of them off, but Sochi just may spring the surprise.

Yes, I am surprised how strong Sochi have come on. Seem to be building momentum as the decision approaches, the way London did to beat Paris. Could be a repeat with Sochi winning

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1 more week! :o

And, to think, the Americans are celebrating their nation's birthday at the same time this 2014 vote is handed down.

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Latest article found by Google.

Link: International Herald Tribune-> Down To The Wire: Tight Race For 2014 Winter Games (2 Pages)

Nice quote from the article: "This is not a Muppet show," Sochi bid chief Dmitry Chernyshenko said. "Russia is very serious about this. For President Putin, it is his personal challenge. He's really passionate about this."

Muppet show, huh? :huh::lol:

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Nice quote from the article: "This is not a Muppet show," Sochi bid chief Dmitry Chernyshenko said. "Russia is very serious about this. For President Putin, it is his personal challenge. He's really passionate about this."

I wonder if Putin and Co will do a Blair and extend personal audiences to individual IOC members.

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I thought this was another interesting quote:

"Putin figures to make the biggest impact because of his stature on the world stage, and his recent spats with the Bush administration could win the Russians favor with members in the Europe-dominated IOC."

Hmmm...on the other hand,at the height of his recent spat with Bush,he also threatened to train his missiles on European cities so I wonder if that will still rankle with a few of the European delegates?

It does seem as if Salzburg has lost its impetus and the low public support revealed in the IOC's recent poll will not do it any favours at all!

It looks like its going to be another nail-biter between Pyeongchang and Sochi and the Russians seem to be generating the most publicity in these last few days before the vote so,unless Putin's sabre-rattling rebounds on him in any way,I've begun to think that Sochi will edge out its rivals!

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I thought this was another interesting quote:

"Putin figures to make the biggest impact because of his stature on the world stage, and his recent spats with the Bush administration could win the Russians favor with members in the Europe-dominated IOC."

Hmmm...on the other hand,at the height of his recent spat with Bush,he also threatened to train his missiles on European cities so I wonder if that will still rankle with a few of the European delegates?

It does seem as if Salzburg has lost its impetus and the low public support revealed in the IOC's recent poll will not do it any favours at all!

It looks like its going to be another nail-biter between Pyeongchang and Sochi and the Russians seem to be generating the most publicity in these last few days before the vote so,unless Putin's sabre-rattling rebounds on him in any way,I've begun to think that Sochi will edge out its rivals!

Perhaps Putin will tell the Europeans to vote for Sochi or he will turn off the gas pipelines again.

I hope the IOC members don't accept any cups of tea from the Russian delegation. ;)

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I'm curious as to what has happened in the past month which has led everyone to believe in Sochi's chances now. A month ago, it was already known that the Russian government pledged it would provide financial support. In spite of that, most people agreed with Chiharu Igaya, head of the IOC Evaluation Commission, that construction would be a challenge because almost none of the infrastructure was yet built. These aren't my words, but rather that of the IOC:

Sochi 2014 Bid Faces Construction Challenge - IOC

That link is from February, but most still agreed with it last month. In addition, people had pointed out that Sochi had not really hosted any winter events in the past. So what caused the change in thinking? And do these drawbacks of little infrastructure and little hosting experience mean nothing anymore?

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This may be the saddest thing I've ever read. ;)

And quite frankly, you may be right about the influence of Sharapova!

It's not so much the individuals, but rather that Sochi seems to have been by far the most high profile campaigner in these last few months. THey're lobbying and campaigning really seems to have stepped up and the bid seems to have a lot of momentum now. It seems to me to be very similar to how London performed in the months and weeks leading up to the 2012 vote _ they have timed their late run well.

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It's not so much the individuals, but rather that Sochi seems to have been by far the most high profile campaigner in these last few months. THey're lobbying and campaigning really seems to have stepped up and the bid seems to have a lot of momentum now. It seems to me to be very similar to how London performed in the months and weeks leading up to the 2012 vote _ they have timed their late run well.

I understand that much, but what happens to the arguments of the lack of infrastructure and lack of hosting events? Are they any less true now? Or are they simply bypassed because of heavy lobbying?

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I understand that much, but what happens to the arguments of the lack of infrastructure and lack of hosting events? Are they any less true now? Or are they simply bypassed because of heavy lobbying?

Those arguments always could be presented as pluses as well as minuses, depending on your point of view. Remember, London won on the promise of a whole new set of infrastructure, against a Paris bid with most of everything in place.

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Those arguments always could be presented as pluses as well as minuses, depending on your point of view. Remember, London won on the promise of a whole new set of infrastructure, against a Paris bid with most of everything in place.

That's if a city is able to provide the whole new set of infrastructure. London already has existing infrastructure in place. They may be aiming for newer facilities and newer transport, but if they fail to do so, then at least they have the existing infrastructure to fall back on (and besides, this is London, perhaps the greatest city in the world. London can achieve anything it desires). Not every city has that luxury. Sochi would have to start from the ground up, with nothing to fall back on. And what happens if Sochi becomes complacent after winning the bid, as cities have done in the past? 6.5 years may seem like a long time to individuals, but in the grand scheme of things, it really isn't that much time. Not when you start from scratch. I don't know the details of Athens' planning, but they had some construction problems until the very end, even a couple of months before the Games were to begin. I know I wouldn't want that to happen again.

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I totally agree.

Not to mention, it has been discussed before on these boards, that the 2012 vote is not concrete enough to try & draw-up any solid conclusions on. The 2012 vote was way tooooo close to determine if the IOC prefers "huge promises" or a well-prepared, well backed-up bid.

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Sochi's 'scratch' was two years ago when the planning initiated.

Now a new airport is up and running, all the sports venues have been designed by world-renowned architects, EIAs competed, land transfer and ground works have begun. Everything is ahead of schedule. No worries whatsoever B)

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Well, the 2014 IOC evaluation commission report, which was only released just three-&-half weeks ago, says otherwise. That the major Sochi construction projects would be a great 'challenge', & one which "would require extensive 'monitoring' by the IOC". The report should have more credence than chauvinistic rhetoric.

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