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African Olympics


Guardian

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And Istanbul? In the foreign language category that everyone politely claps for but never bothered to watch? :)

Istanbul will be OF GODS AND MEN. Oh wait, the French entry didn't actually make it. :lol:

OK, maybe Istanbul will be THE BLACK SWAN.

So, so far we have....

Durban - THe King's Speech

Rome - *The Social Network

Istanbul - *The Black Swan

Tokyo - *Inception

Doha - *127 Hours!!

Madrid - *Toy Story 3 (OK, Best Pic in Animation!) :lol::lol:

* - losers :lol::lol:

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I like the film analogies, Baron. I can see why you likened Durban to The King's Speech and Rome to the Social Network, but just for fun, I'm going to turn the tables.

I'm not convinced that Durban is the darling. The King's Speech wasn't just a feel-good movie with popular appeal. It was also a movie that harkened back to the brilliant performances and production style of the past while reinventing them in a way that seemed fresh and vital. In that sense, it's not the right parallel for Durban. It might actually be closer to Rome.

By contrast, Social Network was a film with very timely subject matter and supersmart craft and execution. It lacked, however, the warmth, classic aesthetic merit and nuanced relationship of the King's Speech. IF Durban runs a brilliant, cutting-edge, new-frontier campaign, I can actually see them being more akin to The Social Network.

Just a thought,

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I like the film analogies, Baron. I can see why you likened Durban to The King's Speech and Rome to the Social Network, but just for fun, I'm going to turn the tables.

I'm not convinced that Durban is the darling. The King's Speech wasn't just a feel-good movie with popular appeal. It was also a movie that harkened back to the brilliant performances and production style of the past while reinventing them in a way that seemed fresh and vital. In that sense, it's not the right parallel for Durban. It might actually be closer to Rome.

By contrast, Social Network was a film with very timely subject matter and supersmart craft and execution. It lacked, however, the warmth, classic aesthetic merit and nuanced relationship of the King's Speech. IF Durban runs a brilliant, cutting-edge, new-frontier campaign, I can actually see them being more akin to The Social Network.

Just a thought,

I agree with you and thought exactly the same. Rome would be a classic choice for Olympic city just as King's speech was a classic Oscar movie.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Morocco with Casablanca could bid for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games annouced the Sport Minister at CISA (International African Sport Forum).

http://insidethegames.biz/summer-olympics/2020/12285-exclusive-casablanca-could-bid-for-2020-olympics

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<font color='#000000'>That one city that didn't finish its Olympic Stadium in time. The rest was fine, but we have discussed this way too many times. I don't want this topic to get diverted away because of this.</font>

Sochi - rio - pc - durban

durban 2020 possible?

maybe pc - durban must choice just one :)

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  • 9 months later...

Here we go again. Not that Rogge sas anything really of note here:

Olympic Games possible in Africa: Rogge

PATSCHERKOFEL, Austria - The International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said Tuesday he would be delighted if an African city bid to host the Olympic Games after 2020.

The IOC already has six candidates for the 2020 Games: Baku (Azerbaijan), Doha (Qatar), Istanbul (Turkey), Madrid (Spain), Rome (Italy) and Tokyo (Japan). The 2020 host city will be chosen next year.

African countries will have to wait for the 2024 Games to have an opportunity to bid for the biggest multi-sport event in the world.

Durban, South Africa, showed interest in hosting the 2020 Games but eventually decided not to bid. Africa is the only continent with the exception of Antartica not to have been awarded the Olympic Games.

Rogge remains hopeful that Africa will bid in future.

"To come to Africa there should be a good candidate and we would be delighted to see a good candidate coming from Africa, this has not been the case for the competition for 2020 but I hope after 2020 there is a good African city making it," he said during his visit to the Alpine skiing venue at the Innsbruck Winter Youth Olympic Games.

Rogge does not expect large numbers of winter Olympians to come from Africa. "It's a difficult task because obviously you need the geography and you need the climate for I would say about two thirds of the winter sports," he said.

"The other ones we need is ice halls."

"What we can do is to give scholarships to athletes to come and train with established countries, which we do by the way, and people perform well but it's never going to be a mass participation," said Rogge.

China Daily

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It's extremely interesting that Rogge always seems to manage to talk about a potential African Olympics every chance he can get. Moreso than any other place on earth.

Yeah, Rogge has his "Rogge-speak", but all the other times he only politely gestures about other possible bidders. But with Africa, he speaks of it with hope & anticipation that an African Olympics it truly desired by the IOC. Akin to like JAS was with China. And it's only a matter of time when Africa gets to finally host the Olympic Games.

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It's extremely interesting that Rogge always seems to manage to talk about a potential African Olympics every chance he can get. Moreso than any other place on earth.

Yeah, Rogge has his "Rogge-speak", but all the other times he only politely gestures about other possible bidders. But with Africa, he speaks of it with hope & anticipation that an African Olympics it truly desired by the IOC. Akin to like JAS was with China. And it's only a matter of time when Africa gets to finally host the Olympic Games.

I suspect, though, that this is because he's ASKED about an African Olympics all the time. I think it's a favourite question for interviewers.

That said, I agree, I so think there's an inevitability to it, though.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Now Seb's doing a Rogge, and commenting on one of everyone's favourite topics here:

Coe: My 'dream' to see Africa stage Olympics

NAIROBI, Kenya -- Sebastian Coe wants to help bring the Olympics to Africa for the first time.

Coe, the middle-distance great who heads the organizing committee for the London Games, said Africa is a powerhouse in running events and deserves to host a world championships in athletics, first, and eventually the Olympics.

"We want to build a global capacity in sports, and of course the Olympic Games need to come to Africa at some point," Coe told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Tuesday. "It's absolutely essential at some point. It's a continent that's contributed tremendously to athletics."

Coe said it would be inappropriate to suggest a timeline in which an African country might host the Olympics, but said global sports bodies need to move away from traditional venues. He said international federations likely will have to be more "hands-on" in helping a country that hasn't hosted a major event before.

"Like many around the world, it would also be a dream for me to see the games staged on this continent," Coe said during his visit to Tanzania, where he met students as part a global sports development program linked with the London Games.

South Africa considered launching an Olympic bid following the success of the 2010 World Cup but decided not to try for the 2020 Summer Games. It is expected to bid for 2024. Cape Town bid unsuccessfully for the 2004 Olympics.

Coe said FIFA had to approach the soccer tournament in South Africa -- the first World Cup on the continent -- in a slightly different way, but "they were still magnificent championships."

He thanked former South African President Nelson Mandela for supporting London's successful bid and said Mandela has an open invitation to visit the London Games if is able to travel.

Coe said he expects African runners to dominate running events from the 800 meters up to the marathon in London, though he hopes Mo Farah -- a Somali-born Briton and world champion in the 5,000 -- finishes high.

"It is quite likely that African athletes will dominate at all those distances," Coe said, adding: "If you look at the (African) contribution made, it's extraordinary."

Coe next travels to Morocco.

ESPN

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And the beat goes on. Like I said earlier, it's extremely interesting that when you hear of new places that should host the Olympics by people in the know, Africa always comes up more than any other locale. Once Africa gets a credible bid on the table next time around, any of it's competition better watch out & be prepared to up the ante, cuz "low-cost or traditional Games &/or yada yada yada" ain't gonna matter when the "final-frontier" elephant is in the room.

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