"Hey Foreigners!" Topic

You can have the Olympics! I don't want them!

Yep, let someone else go broke. And the last thing Chicago needs is more congestion, especially in the summer. I'll stop now, lest I stray into Blue Fez material.

Tripe, nonsense and balderdash! I want the Olympics for Chicago.

The spectacle of an opening ceremony where hundreds of illuminated politicians exchange bribes while marching in step wearing color coordinated prison jumpsuits while on either side of the stadium, bands of gangbangers exchange gunfire in time with a anthem will be the highlight of 2016.

I am shocked, shocked I tell you to discover bribery in Chicago!

We'll let you have the 2012 set cheap.

GAH! Don't want it.

If Chicago gets the Olympics, I'll have to rent out my guest room to the highest bidder in the Lounge. Fair warning: my conversion rate from Quatraloos to US Dollars always benefits me and there is a steep service charge.

The media is already promoting Chicago's new event, railroad tie fencing.

:( :( :(

Hey John, the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex will be host to Super Bowl XLV in 2011. That's kinda like having the Olympics here.

Give it to Rio – they have as many slums as Beijing to bulldoze. Besides, Winter in Rio is preferable to high humidity summer in the upper midwest.
The Sochi Olympics are a disaster for the ordinary residents of Krasnodar Krai, hate to see what it does to this area. It's bad enough people from Illinois come here (Wisconsin), now we'll have to deal with Eurotrash IOC members. Anyway, they'll get better bribes in Brazil, it's no contest.
In fairness S. America deserves the dubious honor of hosting. Argentina might be a better venue though.

I just hate to see the Olympics become a pork project to enrich Daly and his Chicago political syndicate, while in the end, costing the taxpayers a mother lode.

I Imagine will be in the thick of the cash give aways if Chi-Town gets it.

You may call Chicago corrupt, but pound for pound, my money is on Luzerne County Pennsylvania.
Does Chicago have judges sentencing children to juvenile prisons that they own? I think not.

In any event, the Olympic committee is even more corrupt, as corrupt as only a non-accountable international organization can be.
Since you can't cheat an honest man, maybe that will be Chicago's selling point. Unless Rio is worse.

Obama and Oprah b-slapped back to The Windy City.

What a spin, crash and burn for our Prez. Chicago got knocked out in the FIRST ROUND! If we had made it to the finals and lost, that would be one thing, but we didn't even make it past the first cut. Yowza! HE put his reputation and prestige on the line and the IOC humiliated him.

I actually wanted the Olympics in Chicago. I am stunned at the outcome.

You are stunned that the Olympics went to Rio de Janeiro? A city that staged the Pan American Games just two years ago. A country that will be staging the World Cup, the second largest sporting event on earth in 2014. You are surprised that the Olympics are to be held on a continent that has never hosted them before against three countries that have?

You are surprised that the Windy City lost out to A Cidade Marivilhosa? Obviously you are easily surprised.

This will present a host of problems for Rio and Brazil and arguably the money spent could be spent better elsewhere but there really is no doubt Rio deserved the games more than the other three entrants.

I had some mixed feelings about the games going to Rio but I'm glad they have now. Parabens Rio!

"Give it to Rio – they have as many slums as Beijing to bulldoze.."

By the way, no slums will be demolished. You obviously have a poor grasp of the layout of the city.

I obviously don't – is it too hard to drive bulldozers uphill there? Or is the word favela now outlawed – maybe it can be the name of a new Olympic dance instead?
I guess they'll just put screens around the place -'Potemkimba Village'?
Just hope a bunch of [insert foreign country] tourists don't wander off unescorted.

Brazil got the Olympics because of the reasons above – hosting or having hosted other events, it's one of the world's largest economies, and it would be the first S. American country to do so. Good luck to them. I think it will be a boon for national pride and long overdue for S. America. But very much doubt it will be such a boon for the people there. Property and other prices will skyrocket and there will be large scale dislocation -can't have all those poor people bothering the tourists. Every country has crime issues especially with such disparity in income, we'll see how S. Africa handles the World Cup. Maybe Brazil can learn something from it?

"The city faces enormous infrastructure challenges. But some of the cost and planning for the Olympics will be shared with Brazil's preparations to host the 2014 soccer World Cup. The 2007 Pan Am Games left a legacy of massive traffic tie-ups, monumental cost overruns, and disappointed citizens who said economic benefits never materialized…But many economists question the staying power of that economic development. A 2007 study by the Bank of China before the 2008 Beijing Olympics found that in nine of 12 host cities, a region's economic output grew more slowly in the years after the Games than before them….An economist at a multinational bank in Brasilia, Brazil's capital, said much of the investment in sporting mega events produces little or no benefit for taxpayers." From the LA times link

How do Londoners feel about all this?

The prospect of bulldozing the favelas, or as they are more politely known by their residents, 'comunidades' is remote. Quite the opposite is happening, in recent years Federal and State governments have been pumping billions into improving their infrastructure. Given the size of the population on the morros where would they put them anyway? The last time that particular experiemnt was tried on a large scale was under the dictatorship and it was a failure. If you have ever seen the film Cidade de Deus, you will know what I mean.

As it happens none of the planned projects relate to these areas and to be quite frank the average tourist is likely to be largely oblivious to them. They'll see them, sure enough but unless they take one of those favela zoo tours they are unlikely to experience them up close.

The Pan Games were a major pain in the posterior. The metro was meant to have extended to Barra and it's only just about to make it as far as Ipanema. Friend of mine was having to plan a two hour transit to his join during Pan. Then again if Athens can run a succesful games I suspect just about anyone can and Brazil will have the 2014 World Cup under its belt by then.

These sort of events are and I have considerable reservations about the prioritisation of spending. Economic benefits rarely transpire except for a select few, that's true and I think Los Angeles was the last city not to have taken a bath regarding costs. Last games to do more than break even if I'm not much mistaken.

Still it will be a boost to national confidence. Despite economic growth a lot of Brazilians still have a chip on their shoulder regarding world status.

Fingers crossed.

Practical question: Do Brazillian sports fans form mobs and beat/murder athletes who choke?

Serious question. I know some countries kill keepers who score an "Own Goal" in the WC.

That would be a plus. I think too many Olympic athletes get too much credit for losing. Lose, and take your chances with an angry fan base, instead of getting Visa ad endorsements.

;)

I'm kinda glad Chi Town didn't get it, 8 years of hearing about the "Obamalympiad" would get Irksome. The Mao icons at the Bejing games were bad enough. :) :) :)

No, that's Colombianos. If Argentina had any sense that's what they would have done with Maradona after the Paraguay game.

Besides it's only football that can really excite any passion. Hardly anyone gives a toss about ribbon streaming, kite flying, pole sitting, synchronised drowning or any of the Olympic sports with the possible exception of beach volleyball, which is of course entirely laudable.

Personally, I'm hoping Brazil gets the next winter Olympics as well. Now that could be fun.;-)

Agree with the Athens thing – that looked like a mess with congestion and cost overruns. Did not see the abovementioned film – but despise those 'safari' tours. Worse than Survivor – if that's possible.

Would think they would use Brazilia more as a location, any coastal city built on hillsides – Rio, Athens, Sochi for instance.. is really limiting to the effective movement of people. Glad it's not in Chicago, not because of the domestic politics, just sick of the Olympics and the IOC in general. Maybe Chile gets the winter Olympics – probably would have to be in 'Summer' though?

Brasilia would a nightmare. Nice design but impractical. It's baking hot and you really need a car to get around. It lacks the necessary volume of tourist infrastructure. there simply aren't enough hotels and no reason to build anymore. In terms of accomodation and the sporting venues would mostly have to be built from scratch, besides it lacks the beauty and allure of Rio, which really is an amazing city. You could happily spend a life time exploring its pleasures. Unless you have business to do there, I wouldn't advise more than two days to see Brasilia.

Maracană probably still has the largest capacity of any stadium worldwide and it's been refurbished these past few years.

Rio isn't really all that limited in terms of available space. For the Pan Games they shifted the atheletes village and part of the event program to Jarecepagua in the west. The real problem is transit. Despite all the promises the metro extension(s) are still proceeding at a snails pace. The Rio metro is very efficient and quite safe, pity it doesn't extend further. By and large the bus system is pretty good too but it just isn't designed to cope with peak usage that accompanies events like this.

Rio is hardly like Survivor at least for the average tourist. Millions visit every year without a problem. Most cities of this size have crime issues and the overwhelming portion of violent crime takes place out of sight and mind of foreign visitors. There was a huge police presence for the Pan Games, it will no doubt be even bigger for the WC and the Olympics.

Chile would be an interesting choice. I quite like Santiago in some ways but it is a pretty dull city over all. They might as well plump for Bariloche in Argentina. Of course Argentina couldn't afford it.

Wow!!!

I am happy when ever a small country get the omplyics, I think the big countries need to be on a ban list for a while. by the way I dont really like the omplyics since american TV never shows the events I want to see. I only got to see womens fenching last time was because I was up late. and I dont really care to see divers, unless someone wants to have fun and does a belly flop.

Isn't most of the violence in Rio directed against the populace to lower crime rates and attacks on foreigners?

I am happy when ever a small country get the omplyics,

By what bizarre metric is Brazil "small"?
-Kle.

Come on …fess up IOC…the reason why Brazil got it over Chicago is simply because the girls in Rio are hotter than any fat momma that Chi-town can come up with…

This is why Rio won:

picture

We've already got them, but we're open to offers.

And the argument shown by picture or link do present a strong case. (Actually, my favourite was picture , but they were in New Orleans..)

Chicago should be thankful they didn't get it. Unless they like the idea of mortgaging themselves for 30 years or more to pay for it all.
--
Tim

By what bizarre metric is Brazil "small"?
-Kle.

China,
Russia,
USA,
franch, germany,
etc.

I am debating whether or not uk should be on this list. Because I had to ban luxemberg for over poulation.

Ummm, it's the 5th largest country in the world, both by area and population.

Er, with a population of 190 million + only China and the US on your list are bigger. It has more than 50% of the population of the whole South American continent.

Physically speaking, Brazil is roughly the size of the continental United States. On your list only Russia is significantly bigger. France and Germany combined would fit inside the boundaries of Brazil several times over. In fact France would happily fit inside the state of Bahia.

Brazil is probably about the only country of any size that is pretty much self reliant in terms of natural resources. With the recent oil finds made off the cost, it's been projected that Brazil will be amongst the top ten oil producing nations. It's the tenth largest economy in the world for God's sake.

I'm still not sure how any of that makes Brazil 'small'. Developing yes, small no.

You do realise the bid process was started under Bush, and that the use of sponsorship etc means they turn a profit, as well as bring in great shed loads of cash to the whole country?