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'The Olympics are dead': Does anyone want to be a host city any more?
UK Guardian ^ | July 28, 2015 | Les Carpenter

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 ...


TOPICS: Sports
KEYWORDS: corruption; olympics
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I would not mind if the US never hosted another Olympics. Big waste of money.
1 posted on 07/29/2015 6:52:54 AM PDT by C19fan
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To: C19fan

You want to run around, jump, and play children’s games with little balls?

Fine.

Just don’t ask me to pay for it.


2 posted on 07/29/2015 6:55:58 AM PDT by Jack Hammer
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To: C19fan

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.


3 posted on 07/29/2015 6:56:14 AM PDT by Twotone (Truth is hate to those who hate truth.)
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To: C19fan; All

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?


4 posted on 07/29/2015 6:56:32 AM PDT by notdownwidems (Washington DC has become the enemy of free people everywhere)
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To: C19fan

Too much politics. The Olympics are a waste of time and money. JMO.


5 posted on 07/29/2015 6:56:34 AM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (America Matters!)
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To: Twotone

Beat me by 18 seconds! Great minds think alike and all that?


6 posted on 07/29/2015 6:57:07 AM PDT by notdownwidems (Washington DC has become the enemy of free people everywhere)
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To: C19fan

Divvy up the events in different venues.


7 posted on 07/29/2015 6:57:25 AM PDT by stars & stripes forever (Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.)
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To: Twotone

If there are a permanent Olympic sites that means the IOC voting members don’t get their bribe money anymore. Not going to happen...


8 posted on 07/29/2015 6:58:12 AM PDT by C19fan
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To: Jack Hammer

My thoughts exactly. Never watched any, didn’t care ever.


9 posted on 07/29/2015 6:58:29 AM PDT by wally_bert (There are no winners in a game of losers. I'm Tommy Joyce, welcome to the Oriental Lounge.)
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To: C19fan

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.


10 posted on 07/29/2015 6:58:43 AM PDT by babble-on
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To: C19fan

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.


11 posted on 07/29/2015 6:58:43 AM PDT by babble-on
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To: C19fan

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.


12 posted on 07/29/2015 7:04:44 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: C19fan

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.


13 posted on 07/29/2015 7:04:44 AM PDT by RIghtwardHo
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To: FlingWingFlyer

The Olympics died when the US broadcasters decided sports mixed with a little patriotism embarrassed them.


14 posted on 07/29/2015 7:04:59 AM PDT by skeeter
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To: Twotone

**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.


15 posted on 07/29/2015 7:05:48 AM PDT by Gamecock (Many Atheists: "There is no God and I hate Him!")
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To: C19fan
I think the Olympic games should be reinvigorated and redirected to the original goal of physical contest. Those contests associated with battle and so forth would be my choice.

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

16 posted on 07/29/2015 7:06:22 AM PDT by Gaffer
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To: skeeter

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.


17 posted on 07/29/2015 7:06:44 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: C19fan

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.


18 posted on 07/29/2015 7:06:49 AM PDT by vmivol00 (I won't be reconstructed.)
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To: vmivol00

Is there any doubt if the US ever hosted the Olympics again that they would get “Caitlyn” to light the torch?


19 posted on 07/29/2015 7:07:39 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Gamecock
shooting

Host the shooting events in a country that doesn't hate guns. We could have some real long-range, high power events.

20 posted on 07/29/2015 7:07:41 AM PDT by NorthMountain ("The time has come", the Walrus said, "to talk of many things")
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