Amsterdam 1992

[wamel042]

Amsterdam was in the race for the Games of 1992, but unfortunately they competed against Barcelona. So despite the great bid (great bidbook) they lost.

Maybe the anti-campaign was a little bit too strong (Saar Boerlage) but now 25 years later Holland definitely must bid again.

[Stu]

I think an Olympics in the Netherlands would be a great idea and I think Amsterdam would be their best option.  With so many major European cities showing interest in bidding for the summer games lately it's becoming impossible to try to predict where they will be going in Europe or even when - the prospect of another games in the continent in 2016 are still unlikely but they could really diminish the field that is shortlisted against Tokyo and it only adds to the imputus for those wishing to bid in 2020.

[wamel042]

The Netherlands would be capable. Euro 2000 and the youth world cup 2005 were great successes! Also the EC Artistic gymnastics in 2004 were held in Amsterdam.

Amsterdam is defitinely the best choice. I think 2020 or perhaps even 2024 is the best year to bid for. Otherwise it would be too soon after London.

Some great venues already exsist:

AmsterdamArena - soccer

Olympic Stadium (1928) - athletics

Bosbaan - rowing & canoeing

Wagener Stadium - fieldhockey

Sloterparkbad - swimming, diving and waterpolo

Rai Complex - several indoor sports.

[Rafa]

where can we find these bid books??...

[wamel042]

I own a hard-copy of this bidbook and don't have a scanned one.

On My Webpage a copy of this bidbook can be bought. There are also other bid-books for sale.

[Rafa]

yay

[Aronious]

The Netherlands would be capable. Euro 2000 and the youth world cup 2005 were great successes! Also the EC Artistic gymnastics in 2004 were held in Amsterdam.

Amsterdam is defitinely the best choice. I think 2020 or perhaps even 2024 is the best year to bid for. Otherwise it would be too soon after London.

Some great venues already exsist:

AmsterdamArena - soccer

Olympic Stadium (1928) - athletics

Bosbaan - rowing & canoeing

Wagener Stadium - fieldhockey

Sloterparkbad - swimming, diving and waterpolo

Rai Complex - several indoor sports.

Amsterdam's RAI would be the envy of all bids.. such a great complex with many capabilities. I would love to see Asmterdams plans as i may submit the city as a bid in Gamebsids Fantasy Competition.

Does The city plan to develope the original stadium site. I know they have done some work on it in the last ten years though from the information ive gathered, some of the old foundations arnt to good and would limit expansion.

[wamel042]

The 1928 Olympic Stadium was planned to be demolished, but a strong support group managed to achieve that the stadium was rebuild to an new athletics stadium with 25.000 seats. Also the dutch sportsmuseum is located in the stadium.

In 2001 the European Junior (u23) Championships Athletics were held in the "new" stadium.

If Amsterdam should bid for the Olympic Games, than this stadium is definitely too small, but can be used for training, marathon-finish or even fieldhockey matches!

[Aronious]

The 1928 Olympic Stadium was planned to be demolished, but a strong support group managed to achieve that the stadium was rebuild to an new athletics stadium with 25.000 seats. Also the dutch sportsmuseum is located in the stadium.

In 2001 the European Junior (u23) Championships Athletics were held in the "new" stadium.

If Amsterdam should bid for the Olympic Games, than this stadium is definitely too small, but can be used for training, marathon-finish or even fieldhockey matches!

Hounestly, i would have liked to have seen it demolished. To make way for a better stadium. Maybe another football stadium, although AJAX doesnt look like its going to move from AArena anytime soon.

Looking at the cities other venues. A redoveloped hokcey stadium, Zuid sports complex and AmstelPark site could make for an impressive bid. Maybe an event squeezed into Dam Sqaure also. A village on grounds at AmstelPark and a redoveloped aquatic and tennis centre.

Maybe make use of the Ahoy Centre in Rotterdam also.

A marathon finish at the 1928 Olympic stadium would be great though i would love to see the entire stadium completely redeveloped to a National Stadium.

[wamel042]

It would be the first Olympic Stadium to be torn down. The Olympic Stadium is situated in a part of Amsterdam, where a new (much bigger) stadium cannot be built. So the historical significance but be taken into account and I completely agree with the present situation. Athletics is not a very big sport in the Netherlands so, that a stadium with 60.000 seats (or more) would be much in use, after the Olympics.

I agree that Amsterdam (and some other cities in the Netherlands) could make a great olympic bid in the future.

Triathlon in Vondelpark, sailing in Medemblik, beach-volleyball on the Dam and of course Ahoy in Rotterdam can be used also for several indoor-sports. It hosted the European Championships judo recently.

I think Holland is ready for a new Olympic bid.

[Guardian]

Has Amsterdam hosted any IAAF events recently, like Golden League and others like it?

[Aronious]

Athletics is not a very big sport in the Netherlands so, that a stadium with 60.000 seats (or more) would be much in use, after the Olympics.

I understand that and would think systems would have to be installed to allow reconfiguring of an Olympic Stadium after the games. Maybe something like Telstra Stadium where the capacity was reduced post Olympics and the lower stands have the ability to move 18m's forward allowing for rectangular pitch and athletics play.

Obviously, a new National Stadium built in Amsterdam would have to be scaled down after the games and used for sports like Football, Rugby and maybe even Hockey.

[wamel042]

Has Amsterdam hosted any IAAF events recently, like Golden League and others like it?

Amsterdam hosted the European Junior Championship under 23 in 2001 in the old olympic stadium and of course there is a major athletics meet in Hengelo every year in the Fanny Blankers Koen stadium.

[wamel042]

Athletics is not a very big sport in the Netherlands so, that a stadium with 60.000 seats (or more) would be much in use, after the Olympics.

I understand that and would think systems would have to be installed to allow reconfiguring of an Olympic Stadium after the games. Maybe something like Telstra Stadium where the capacity was reduced post Olympics and the lower stands have the ability to move 18m's forward allowing for rectangular pitch and athletics play.

Obviously, a new National Stadium built in Amsterdam would have to be scaled down after the games and used for sports like Football, Rugby and maybe even Hockey.

I said that athletics is not a big sport in the Netherlands and comparing things with some other nations that is correct, but at the last World Championships in Helsinki "we" won 2 medals! One silver (Rutger Smith) and one gold (Rens Blom). Also Simon Vroemen ran a European record later that year in the steeple chase.

So perhaps a new Olympic Stadium with many seats could give an extra boost to this sport in the Netherlands.

[Quintana]

Athletics is not a very big sport in the Netherlands so, that a stadium with 60.000 seats (or more) would be much in use, after the Olympics.

I understand that and would think systems would have to be installed to allow reconfiguring of an Olympic Stadium after the games. Maybe something like Telstra Stadium where the capacity was reduced post Olympics and the lower stands have the ability to move 18m's forward allowing for rectangular pitch and athletics play.

Obviously, a new National Stadium built in Amsterdam would have to be scaled down after the games and used for sports like Football, Rugby and maybe even Hockey.

Rugby can't even fill a 5000 seat stadium over here. It's a real students sport. Students start playing it when they're about 20 years old - which is why we are so crap at it - and most of them stop once they have graduated.

Hockey is the game of the elite. Not popular enough to fill a big stadium. Only football could do that in Holland.

I fear Amsterdam itself is too small to organize the Olympics, it has a population of just over 700.000. If the whole Randstad metro (7 million inhabitants) could organise it, it shouldn't be a problem. Amsterdam and Rotterdam are only 50km apart, Amsterdam and The Hague 45km and Rotterdam and The Hague 20km.

[wamel042]

That is a great advantage of the Netherlands. All major cities are relatively close to eachother. But why is Amsterdam too small?

How many people should live in a city, before it is capable of hosting the Games? Concerning the spectators it is no issue, because the Netherlands is a small country and the maximum drive to Amsterdam is 2,5 hours, so the Games will be easy to reach for all people.

If Amsterdam is not capable, then definitely another won't be either in the Netherlands! Greece (Athens) is not a big country either, only 14 mnl. (?) inhabitants, so why not Amsterdam?

[Aronious]

Athletics is not a very big sport in the Netherlands so, that a stadium with 60.000 seats (or more) would be much in use, after the Olympics.

I understand that and would think systems would have to be installed to allow reconfiguring of an Olympic Stadium after the games. Maybe something like Telstra Stadium where the capacity was reduced post Olympics and the lower stands have the ability to move 18m's forward allowing for rectangular pitch and athletics play.

Obviously, a new National Stadium built in Amsterdam would have to be scaled down after the games and used for sports like Football, Rugby and maybe even Hockey.

Rugby can't even fill a 5000 seat stadium over here. It's a real students sport. Students start playing it when they're about 20 years old - which is why we are so crap at it - and most of them stop once they have graduated.

Hockey is the game of the elite. Not popular enough to fill a big stadium. Only football could do that in Holland.

I fear Amsterdam itself is too small to organize the Olympics, it has a population of just over 700.000. If the whole Randstad metro (7 million inhabitants) could organise it, it shouldn't be a problem. Amsterdam and Rotterdam are only 50km apart, Amsterdam and The Hague 45km and Rotterdam and The Hague 20km.

In regards to Rugby and Hockey. Obviously the venue would never fill, especially for hockey. Though hosting maybe school events ect could see the venue made worth while. A constant capacity of around 40-50,000 would be adequate although is there another football team willing to use the venue?

I don’t think your point of the population of Amsterdam is valid. Cities like Leipzig (400,000) have bid before and although there was speculation about there size, there is still sufficient support to host the games. In fact, take for example Sydney, which I think the city only has a population of just under 100,000 and a metro of around 4,000,000, yet it has still pulled off one of the best ever games.

Back the stadium, yes, it would be very hard to justify a new stadium in Amsterdam. Really, there is no demand and honestly, things like this really dampen A’dam’s chances of ever hosting the Games.

[Sir Rols]

I don’t think your point of the population of Amsterdam is valid. Cities like Leipzig (400,000) have bid before and although there was speculation about there size, there is still sufficient support to host the games. In fact, take for example Sydney, which I think the city only has a population of just under 100,000 and a metro of around 4,000,000, yet it has still pulled off one of the best ever games.

It's a bit misleading to only account for the CBD statistics in assessing population size. As you said, the population of the Sydney City Council area probably is like you said, about 100,000, butn that is really only the commercial yheart of Sydney (and remember, the main games precinct wasn't even in the SCC area, but within Auburn Municipal Council area, yet no one has ever called them Auburn 2000 or Homebush 2000). Australia, unlike Europe, doesn'tsplit its population figures down to the smaller local districts, so officially the Sydney population IS generally regarded as 4 million.

Thus, for Holland to say Amsterdam only has a population of 700,000 is misleading. As has been mentioned, the area has 7 million and distances between the main population are small especially by Australian or US standards).

[Aronious]

Triathlon in Vondelpark, sailing in Medemblik, beach-volleyball on the Dam and of course Ahoy in Rotterdam can be used also for several indoor-sports. It hosted the European Championships judo recently.

Isnt Medemblik a little bit of a stretch when sailing could be at the Europort mouth, or in Rotterdam itself. Im not exactly an expert, and being dutch you have a far more extensive knowledge of the two precents, though on first assumptions i would think Europort would be the better of the options.

[wamel042]

Medemblik was part of the 1992 Olympic bid from Amsterdam and is the place in Holland (near to Amsterdam) with the best (existing) facilities. It also hosted several major competitions in the recent years, so I think Medemblik is definitely the best choice for the yachting competition. A major advantage is that the competition will be hold on a (big) non-tidal lake.

In 2001 Medemblik hosted the World Championships in the Star-class.

[Faster]

you can't compare Leipzig in Germany to Amsterdam in the Netherlands, one has over 80 million people behind it and Europe's largest economy, compared to the 8th smallest western European economy in the netherlands only ahead of the likes of Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein.

A smaller city in Germany would be able to host an olympics because of the large country behind it, whereas a smaller international city like Amsterdam and a small country like the Netherlands

Athens was the smallest city and country to host the Olympics in 52 years, and it wasn't exactly the greatest Olympics, the IOC may want to get smaller, but still have size behind you matters

hence why Toulouse, Lille, etc aren't bidding for France and Manchester and the B city failed for the UK

[Stu]

Amsterdam could cope with an Olympics far more than Leipzig, not only is Amsterdam used to having huge numbers of tourists from across the world so has much of the accommodation, it is also served by Schiphol which surely must be the biggest European airport after Heathrow and De Gaulle.  

The German economy is the largest in Europe, but the Netherlands is still in the top 25 counties with regards to the size of their economy, a head of Belgium and South Africa, well ahead of Greece and quite near to the size of the Australian economy.  It is still very wealthy on a global scale and certainly could cope with the costs of an Olympics being one of the most affluent countries in the world.

The failure of Lille and Manchester seem more a reason for Leipzig not to bid than Amsterdam.

[wamel042]

For the fans, a copy from the bidbook. The proposed Olympic Stadium connected to the main presscentre.

http://img318.imageshack.us/img318....MG]

[wamel042]

Amsterdam could cope with an Olympics far more than Leipzig, not only is Amsterdam used to having huge numbers of tourists from across the world so has much of the accommodation, it is also served by Schiphol which surely must be the biggest European airport after Heathrow and De Gaulle.  

The German economy is the largest in Europe, but the Netherlands is still in the top 25 counties with regards to the size of their economy, a head of Belgium and South Africa, well ahead of Greece and quite near to the size of the Australian economy.  It is still very wealthy on a global scale and certainly could cope with the costs of an Olympics being one of the most affluent countries in the world.

The failure of Lille and Manchester seem more a reason for Leipzig not to bid than Amsterdam.

Thank you Stu for your support! If Leipzig can bid and win a German contest against Hamburg and Stuttgart then A'dam can surely bid (and organise) the Games. If Greece can host Olympic Games, Holland can too!

Not only the main economic powers of the world are able of hosting the Games, but also the smaller ones.......

Perhaps the Dutch Olympic committee must make a proposal to all European committee to host European Games! Let create a new continental Olympic Games!

[baron-pierreIV]

Cudda, shudda.  Amsterdam is in the same class as Prague and Budapest -- smallish European cities that misty-eyed folks think can host an Olympics; but are really too small.  I don't exactly see  60,000+ people a day swarming around Amsterdam and environs with much ease.  The era of these smallish host cities is over -- especially when you have the mega-cities like London, NYC, Paris, Chicago, Tokyo, Delhi, Rio, etc. bidding for the big plum.  Those smaller cities are just in for a lot of disappointment and heartache.