Posted on 07/29/2015 6:52:54 AM PDT by C19fan
The reason Boston’s residents didn’t want to be Athens is the same reason the residents of Oslo or Krakow or Stockholm don’t want to be Athens. Hosting an Olympics is a corporate sinkhole sucking billions of dollars and a city’s future into a bottomless abyss of excess.
The internet is clogged with slide shows of empty, broken, useless stadiums built in the euphoria of a coming Olympics or World Cup then abandoned soon after, allowed to fill with weeds, rodents and other signs of human escape. Is there a better sign of Greece’s collapse than a pile of useless sports facilities crumbling since the torch went out in the summer of 2004? What use did Athens have for a baseball stadium anyway? It’s crumbling among the weeds just like the field hockey venue, the canoeing center and the training pool green with algae.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
You want to run around, jump, and play children’s games with little balls?
Fine.
Just don’t ask me to pay for it.
I’ve always thought we should just have it in ONE place so everybody doesn’t have to build all the expensive venues. Maybe we should have it in GREECE! A great tourist spot & they could actually use an economic boost & some cash these days.
I have always felt that the Olympics should be held in the same city each time. For the summer games, there is only one logical choice: Athens; it would simplify the logistics considerably, as well as giving a much-needed shot in the arm to the Greek economy, such as it is. The winter games are harder; trying to think of where it would be most logical to set them up on a permanent basis. It would have to be somewhere that has the infrastructure, the correct weather, etc. You other Freepers have any ideas?
Too much politics. The Olympics are a waste of time and money. JMO.
Beat me by 18 seconds! Great minds think alike and all that?
Divvy up the events in different venues.
If there are a permanent Olympic sites that means the IOC voting members don’t get their bribe money anymore. Not going to happen...
My thoughts exactly. Never watched any, didn’t care ever.
The guy with the gold medal is the one with the best illegal PEDs in his system. As soon as they started paying people to do it, it became corrupt.
It’s time to end the Olympics.
The guy with the gold medal is the one with the best illegal PEDs in his system. As soon as they started paying people to do it, it became corrupt.
It’s time to end the Olympics.
Build a permanent installation in one city and just have it there every Olympics.
To me, a place like Switzerland would make the most sense.
Couldn’t agree more.
I remember when I could not WAIT for the Olympics, Summer or Winter, and watched every minute of it I could get my hands on. Now? I don’t think I’ve watched the last 2 or 3 at all.
Give me the Women’s World Cup. That was amazing and had that real team, fight for America, feel to it.
The Olympics can die off for all I care. And I am quite shocked I feel that way.
The Olympics died when the US broadcasters decided sports mixed with a little patriotism embarrassed them.
**I’ve always thought we should just have it in ONE place so everybody doesn’t have to build all the expensive venues. Maybe we should have it in GREECE! A great tourist spot & they could actually use an economic boost & some cash these days.**
Or have the games spread out around the world with countries hosting events that are unique to their country, where facilities are already in place. Have them all during the same two week window.
Baseball? US or Japan.
Track and Field? Toss that to Greece.
Soccer? Prelims could be held most anyplace in Europe and then fall in on a larger stadium
Taekwondo? Korea
Tennis? Rotate around the Grand Slam venues.
Face it, tons of Olympic sports don’t require a large stadium anyway. Fencing, shooting and Archery come to mind.
To that end, my pick for the refreshed International Olympics would be an opening day of Gladiatorial Magnificence - that event being each member of the IOC is allowed to choose his own armor and weapon, and then made to face the lions in a vastly expanded new Coliseum
One of the reasons I hate NBC’s coverage is because they are too US-centric in their coverage. I remember one year I watched the Canadian coverage and it was so much better.
I’m pretty sure that folks like Jenner are going to kill the Olympics anyway. There can’t be fair competitions when athletes get to decide what gender they are.
Is there any doubt if the US ever hosted the Olympics again that they would get “Caitlyn” to light the torch?
Host the shooting events in a country that doesn't hate guns. We could have some real long-range, high power events.
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