NOBODY'S BUSINESS BUT THE TURKS: The final five cities seeking to host the 2020 Summer Olympics are Tokyo, Madrid, Istanbul, Doha (Qatar), and Baku (Azerbaijan).
Doha, for what it's worth, proposes to move the Games to the first two weeks of October given the obvious weather concerns; interesting that three of the five potential host cities would be the first to bring the Games to the Muslim world. (Sarajevo would come closest, I guess.) Between Summer and Winter, the next four host cities are London, Sochi (Russia), Rio de Janeiro, and Pyeongchang (South Korea).
The corruption allegations about the World Cup bid for Qatar, coupled with the TV issues and scheduling issues associated with an October start (for the big draw of basketball in particular), would seem to toss that one out, and Baku may have infrastructure problems. I'd bet on Istanbul.
ReplyDeleteAre you kidding me, Matt? Corruption is the very point of hosting the Olympics.
ReplyDeleteSeriously. Look how Rio bribed it's way into stealing Chicago's Olympics (the second time that's happened to Chicago, the first being St. Louis stealing the 1906 Olympics that had already been award to Chicago.)
ReplyDeleteSo, Tokyo 2020.
ReplyDeleteRoger - not right after Pyeongchang. My money's on Madrid.
ReplyDeleteIt'll be 28 years post-Barcelona, so not implausible. But I think that just like Rio being the first South American games, they'll want to make the political statement by going to the Muslim world and choosing Istanbul.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts also.
ReplyDeleteIf they handled 1992 Winter (Albertville, France), 1992 Summer (Barcelona, Spain), and 1994 Winter (Lillehammer, Norway)...then why not Tokyo after Pyeongchang?
ReplyDeleteMy first thought was...hmm, interesting to host the Olympics in a country that basically shuns women from all sports, but then I read this:
ReplyDeleteQatar is sending female athletes to the Olympics for the first time this summer, and the 2020 bid presentation took considerable pains to emphasize that holding the Olympics in Doha would improve conditions for women competitors throughout the Middle East.
If that is, in fact, true, and not just a bunch of baloney (halal, of course) thrown together by a good marketing team, then "Go Qatar!" However, I think the weather is a huge factor. Um, unseasonable weather anyone? It's 80+ degrees in NY today--it could easily be 110 degrees in Qatar in October. Not good.
On the same Muslim women in sports note, I highly recommend the movie Salaam Dunk--it's a documentary about an all-womens basketball team at the American University in Iraq. Truly inspiring. It was part of the Int'l Children's Film Festival in NY.
I think it'll be Madrid. I cannot believe Barcelona was 28 years ago. Oy.
Oh, my god. 28 years post-Barcelona? Nothing has made me feel old like that made me feel old. Charles Barkley on Las Ramblas seems like yesterday.
ReplyDeleteIt was about 70 degrees at the top of the mountains for the first week of the Vancouver winter Olympics, so who cares about weather? Doha is the money choice (like Beijing, wants to show itself off; not afraid to toss around a little cash to do it; big risk on readiness and greater risk on security than other applicants, other than Azerbaijan); Tokyo is the safe choice; Istanbul is the compromise. Is Tokyo in September better than Doha in October? Don't know.
ReplyDeleteAdam - even just the idea means I've been humming for a half hour, so I hope not.
ReplyDeleteGuest 1:35:24 - Because the IOC choosy people were largely from Europe, so to them, France, Spain, and Norway seemed like totally different countries. Maybe I'm wrong about the current composition and myopia of the IOC choosy people, but I doubt it.
As someone whose job is helping my employer set up to cover the Olympics -- a job that requires me to travel to the host cities about a half-dozen times prior to the Games -- I am praying for Madrid. Or, if not, then I'm praying for a new job before 2020.
ReplyDeleteIsaac, it's not *that* bad: 2020 will be 28 years from Barcelona. Right now, the Dream Team is "only" twenty years ago.
ReplyDeleteAll of the applicants for the 1992 and 1994 Winter Games were European or American (Anchorage); Brisbane did bid for 1992 in addition to various European cities, but given that it was Samaranch's last Games (IIRC), Barcelona was a done deal.
ReplyDeleteI believe a Qatar Olympics would be good for women like China's olympics were good for their human rights--they'll talk a big game right up until the point of actually getting the nod and then psh...not so much. I have yet to see an Olympics in person and would like to one of these days but most of these choices lead me to believe 2020 will not be that year.
ReplyDeleteHas a country ever had a revolution or a coup in between being granted the Olympics and hosting them? Not an entirely unlikely outcome with either Doha or Istanbul, and not an impossible one with Madrid.
ReplyDeleteThe 1936 Berlin Games were awarded in 1931, two years before the Nazis took over.
ReplyDelete