Chicago Loses Bid for 2016 Olympic Games

[looseliam]

Good.

Were Chicago to have won, I was going to leave for the duration.

Fuck, I can't get around at rush hour as it is.

 

[Joshua_me]

Fuck, I can't get around at rush hour as it is.

Take all the empty beer cans off the dashboard, you'll be able to see the road better.

Some radio talkshow pundits suggested this is because most of the world still hates us after the dreadful Bush administration.

Draw your own conclusions.

 

[bankside]

I vote to change the title of this thread to "Congratulations Rio!" as I believe that would be more in keeping with the spirit of Olympic competition.

This is a good news story, about Rio!

 

[gsdx]

Making the Games a star, not star power clinched 2016 for Rio de Janeiro

2 hours, 18 minutes ago

By Stephanie Levitz, The Canadian Press

COPENHAGEN, Denmark - Chicago's final bid for the 2016 Summer Games was all about star power. Rio de Janeiro's was all about making the Games a star.

For the International Olympic Committee, in a fight for continued dominance of the world sporting circuit, not to mention ever-scarcer sponsorship dollars, the decision proved to be easier than many pundits thought.

Bringing the Games to South America takes their quest for global relevance one step further and the fact that the Latin nation has never hosted a Games was central to the city's bid.

"It is a time to address this imbalance," Brazil's charismatic president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told the IOC's members before they voted. "It is time to light the Olympic cauldron in a tropical country."

[snip]

So while Chicago brought President Barack Obama, the first lady and Oprah Winfrey, Rio was packing Pele.

Chicago sold its charm, Rio sold its sport.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/091002/world/oly2016_bids

 

[martin6]

I can't get over watching all those Chicagoans ready to party and then watching their mouths drop and just hang there when the announcement was made.



And this is coming from a former Chicagoan!!

 

[looseliam]

^ Well, at least your'e not a packers fan!

 

[frankfrank]

Way to go, Rio!

As mentioned by several, the U.S. has had quite a few Olympics events in recent decades. There's an entire planet to spread them around to.

I understand this is the first Olympics to be sited in South America, and that Africa has never had the Games. I think that Cape Town would be a very deserving place as well.

 

[scrapple]

I can't believe that idiot Obama wasted time on his little ego trip. With Iran poised to enter the nuclear arena, the economy in shambles and health care in crisis mode, Barry has time to lobby for his corrupt cronies in Chicago? Can anyone sau "buyer's remorse"?

 

[Triple G]

OMG, the personal plea of the lord messiah Obama was rebuked. They will be made to pay.

How many tens of millions of dollars was wasted to fly his circus to the IOC meeting. How much pollution put in the air?

 

[bankside]

Well, they spent $50 million on their bid. I think part of the problem in the US is that these bids tend to be regional rather than national. I wasn't aware of Chicago's bid until only recently and the bids by Salt Lake City and Atlanta seemed like worlds away in cities that hardly expressed my own regional pride and identity.

Well regional pride has to take a somewhat broader meaning when it comes to global events.

After all, Vancouver will host the winter Olympics in just a few months, and that means as far as the rest of the world is concerned, North America has "had its turn."

So come up to Vancouver! It's your games!

 

[Joshua_me]

OMG, the personal plea of the lord messiah Obama was rebuked. They will be made to pay.

How many tens of millions of dollars was wasted to fly his circus to the IOC meeting. How much pollution put in the air?

How many straws are you desperately grasping at ?

I wasn't aware that President Obama had a "circus", but if he does it certainly has to be an improvement over the buffoonery under the big top our country had to endure over the past eight years.

Honestly, a president and his staff flying on a private jet. Who ever heard of such madness ?

 

[martin6]

How many tens of millions of dollars was wasted to fly his circus to the IOC meeting. How much pollution put in the air?

I know right? He should have walked. Or at least driven a Prius.

 

[unloadonme]

A fortunate escape for Chicago. If only London had been so lucky.

 

[kallipolis]

Ha! London has some BIG Chinese shoes to fill! The Beijing spectacle was unprecedented. I don't think I'll ever see anything like it again in my lifetime.

It takes the resolve and the organisation of a totalitarian state to create such lavish displays. North Korea also has a habit of impressing the onlooker with gigantic displays that demonstrate how well the state manipulates its people. Germany and Italy during the 1930s also impressed the world with monumental displays of massed torch lit military precise spectacles.

I prefer the less than perfect skills of the democratic nations. In other words I am not impressed by the herding skills of totalitarian governments.

I look forward to being impressed by the organisational skills of the peoples of London, and Rio de Janeiro.

 

[gsdx]

Virtually this entire thread is proof positive that the Olympics have very little to do with sport anymore.

Citius, Altius, Fortius my ass.

It's all about money and politics.

No wonder there are predictions of the death of the Modern Olympics before the next decade is out.

 

[bankside]

Our games? Puh-leeze. It's a well known fact that Canada, in its quest to up its medal count has decided to limit the pre Olympic use of all Canadian Olympic facilities by other nations including the United States.

So much for being neighborly!

That's the spirit!

And now I'm really glad that Rio won! Go Rio!!!

 

[gsdx]

Ah, the Olympic Spirit.

Can't you just feel it?

 

[Triple G]

Honestly, a president and his staff flying on a private jet. Who ever heard of such madness ?

A PRIVATE JET??? How about 2ea 747 for the pres., a 777 for Michele my bell, 1ea747 for the press corp, 1ea transport for his chariot and other equipment, 5ea F-16 for escort and their refueling tanker. All so this ineffective buffoon can embarrass us in front of the world. What a wast. At least Bush knew what he was doing and while far from perfect, he conducted himself with dignity.

 

[CGHJ]

Actually I would have been shocked if Chicago had won. I mean who wouldn't want to go to Rio?! And yeah we've hosted our fair share of them recently, plus there was that video of the guy getting beat to death that came out right beforehand, that couldn't have helped. Plus when's the last time South America hosted the games...like, never?

And, it's Rio! That just has good times written all over it. As opposed to heat, humidity, corruption and terrorism. It's a no brainer.

 

[CoolguyAT]

First of all I hate the title of this thread - we could have discussed Chicago, Madrid, and Tokyo's loss but it really should have been to discuss the congratulations for Rio!

So congrats Rio!!!!! In addition to the beautiful scenery should be some good eye candy, have heard from many that Rio has the most gorgeous men in the world