Congrats, Brisbane!

I guess the IOC wanted to turn back the clock and have the 1992 Olympics again.

Their rivals for the hosting was....................................no-one.

No-one wants to host the bloated thing anymore.

I wonder why Madrid never got it. They tried so may times. I feel kinda bad for them.

The IOC literally hand-picked Brisbane and discouraged the other potential candidates from Spain, Qatar, Indonesia, Turkey and others from throwing their hats in the ring. They say they want to overhaul the previously very corrupt bidding process but only one problem: the committee that assessed Brisbane's viability and sustainability is Australian.

R4 Spain has tried for 4 Olympics now. So sick of them always getting shafted. I have read about the process, the arguments for not giving the games to Spain seem very weak. Madrid has amazing public transit. The metro is very good and one of the biggest in Europe. I don't understand why they chose Paris for the hundreth time over Madrid? Why couldn't a new city get it? Los Angeles is also a weird choice. I love LA but the public transportation is HORRENDOUS. How will people get to and from the venues? By cars? Wtf?! Another choice that makes no sense. Also, LA has had the games before. Would be more fun with a new city, but oh well.

* I meant the comitteee that approved Brisbane is HEADED by an Australian. Same old IOC corruption. They should've allowed the others to at least state their case.

R5 They say Brisbane will only use existing venues and no new ones will be built. Madrid wasn't helped by the fact Paris is hosting 2024.

R7 But I thought Madrid wanted the games that eventually went to Paris? I don't understand why they chose Paris, which has had it before, and not Madrid, a new city. They have applied to be able to host the games so many times now. I do not understand why they constantly get shafted. Paris is such a boring choice. No excitement. At least Brisbane I can sorta understand, a different continent. Same with LA, despite lacking public trasportation. Like, at least it's in a different continent. The European city should have been Madrid, not Paris. Madrid is an amazing city with amazing public transportation. I don't understand why they didn't get the games. Smells of corruption.

r8 Paris 2024 is consolation for losing London 2012 and, supposedly, centenary celebrations of the last time Paris hosted in 1924. But bidding is always heavily influenced by politics and France has more international clout. The IOC is still corrupt no matter how they dress it.

You’ll all be dead by then anyway

Whatever happened to Danielle Brisbois

Isn't Madrid awful in the summer?

Brisbane's games will be held during their winter so it will have lovely weather.

R12 No, not really. Sure, it gets hot but it's a dry hot due to Madrid's altitude. There's very little humidity. I visited the city a decade ago. It was about 34°C every day. Didn't feel hot at all. I swear 25°C in Norway is worse than 35°C in Madrid. I think we get more humidity here. We recently had a (short) heatwave. It was abput 30°C for a few days. I almost died. It was so hot. I swear I'd take Madrid's dry heat any day instead.

Essentially, Australia is politically stable and as an island state, security won't present a huge problem.

Having done it twice before, it was a safe pair of hands than the other potential bidders.

Some of whom were near third world status, politically volatile and have security issues.

LA's public transportation system has improved tremendously since the last Olympics there ... and even more will be finished by the time the next one rolls around.

It's too bad the homeless will probably have claimed the subway tunnels for themselves by that point in time.

I really can’t imagine who would want to host it these days - incredible waste of money.

r7, I've heard the biggest expense is security. So there's no getting around that.

And r74, it doesn't matter that Australia is safe. We're talking about the Olympics, with athletes and media people coming from all over the world. Germany was a very secure country, and look what happened at Munich.

I’m Australian. We fully expected Sydney 2020 to be a disaster but the public loved it.

What they don’t spread around is that New South Wales was in debt for the Olympics for over a decade.

I guess this means we have to start calling it "BRIZZ-ben," instead of "BRIZZ-bane."

Just call it 'Brisvegas ' r20. Brisbane is often described as a big country town even though it grew out of that years ago, but locals are still not sure their town is anything other than a good place to live and lack pretension. I've heard a local describe its best feature being that you can drive to some very nice places. My hope is that it has a simpler games where the sport is the biggest talking point, not some idea that the facilities will be sooo amaaazing.

He was my favorite non-black, character on the Little Rascals.

I don't understand why NYC has never hosted an Olympics. Other very large cities such as London, Paris, LA, Tokyo, etc. have. And, I know they have bid before. I would think NYC would be a shoo-in, given its international reputation.

I come from BRIZBUN and I'm quite plain.

NYC is too congested and corrupt. Same with Chicago. Atlanta got lucky hosting the Olympics, moved Atlanta up to a tier 2 city.

NYC, LA and DC are tier one. Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, and San Francisco are tier 2

My condolences to the residents of Brisbane who need to actually get things done while horde of tourists and media are descending upon their city.

I guess they’re trying to make Brisbane happen.

R25 I wouldn’t call DC tier one. It has always been a mismashed company town, stuck between the North and South. I think it was JFK that said it had all the charm of the North(as in not much) and the efficiency of the South(again not a compliment).

In the future only dictatorial and despotic nations like China able to host major sporting event like this. Where there will be zero chance for any protest or dissent. They just can bulldozed anything, forcefully remove anyone and spend billions without any accountability or media scrutiny.

Can you imagine the security nightmare for Paris 2024? The city well known for their regular and often violent mass protest not too mention being the favorite punching bag for Islamic terror.

I can't see there being any spectators at Olympic events for many years to come. If local public health regulations forbid crowds how on earth will they be financially viable?

[quote] ...how on earth will they be financially viable?

Have they ever been financially viable? I'm not being snarky here, but but aren't they only profitable for sponsors, hotels, and whoever sells or buys the television rights?

r29, I saw in the opening ceremonies last night that Taiwan marched in as an indendent country. How is China going to explain that to its people next year when they host the winter Olympics in Beijing? Are they going to literally point the camera elsewhere as the Taiwan athletes walk in?

China will probably boycott Brisbane since they hate Australia.

I was able to score a lovely apartment stay in Marylebone for a couple of weeks back in 2012, since the owner (and many other Londoners) fled London for the duration of the Olympics. The trade-off: getting around London was a nightmare.

Return the Summer Olympics to Athens as the permanent home. All these cities that win their bid for the Olympics end up in overwhelming debt with venues that are never used post-Olympics and fall into disrepair.

r32 Did you miss the fact that China already hosted the Summer Olympics recently?

r35 Yes, and require all the male athletes to be in the nude, like in ancient times.

Who wants the political millstone of inviting the world to your country with Covid being endemic?

I can see local populations being very unhappy, like the Japanese people are, about hosting future Olympics, from a political and public health perspective.

r36, that doesn't answer my question.

I think the broadcast is controlled by the IOC.

China can choose to cut that part of the official broadcast in their home country by going to some pre-recorded whatever and then return to the broadcast but they cant alter the official IOC feed to other countries.

I'll be 52 years old. Fuck me.

R32, there is also a separate Hong Kong contingent, which I find odd. China says HK is part of China, and yet there they are not competing for China.

R5, so why Barcelona (1992) and not Madrid?

If we're not all dead by then.