Question Shout Out to Japan!

For any of you who missed the closing ceremonies in Rio, the 2020 Summer Olympics will be hosted in Tokyo! And if the performance that Japan put on today is any indication of what we can expect four years from now, I know I'm definitely excited.

You're going to be disappointed then. The JOC has been rocked with scandals and construction of venues has yet to start.

I missed the Japan/Tokyo bit if the closing ceremony as I fell asleep during it just like I did the opening. I would have figured Carnival dancers would have kept my interest but... nope.

Boris Knokitov wrote: You're going to be disappointed then. The JOC has been rocked with scandals and construction of venues has yet to start.

Well, dang...that IS disappointing to hear...

Boris Knokitov wrote: You're going to be disappointed then. The JOC has been rocked with scandals and construction of venues has yet to start.

I'm not sure how that is different from the past few Olympic venues. Maybe they can have a robot olympics to go with the regular olympics and the para-olympics. ASIMO versus contenders from around the world. You know what they say: plan for the worst and hope for the best.

Have a look at what happens afterwards, when the camera's have gone home.

Olympic cities regularly end up saddled with debt afterwards, while the infrastructural improvements crumble, as they weren't built with normal use in mind.

I can see that in East London, after 2012.

I read someone seriously propose moving the summer games permanently to Greece for five reasons:
1) they originated there, so it's historical
2) it reduces the opportunities for corruption on the site-selection committees
3) it boosts the laggard Greek economy
4) it saves a lot of cities the misery of building extravagant Olympic venues that then go unused at a huge cost to the residents of the sucker site.
5) it reduces the chances to use the games for political progagandizing (aka Hitler)

This plan gets my vote.

Note on point 3 - I should have phrased that as:

3) it boosts the laggard Greek economy (without having to steal from be subsidized by other European taxpayers)

Mister D wrote: Have a look at what happens afterwards, when the camera's have gone home.

Olympic cities regularly end up saddled with debt afterwards, while the infrastructural improvements crumble, as they weren't built with normal use in mind.

I can see that in East London, after 2012.

It only took Montreal 30 years to pay off their Olympic debt.

Besides it could be worse, they could have given the Olympics to Chicago.

elrodw wrote: Note on point 3 - I should have phrased that as:

3) it boosts the laggard Greek economy (without having to steal from be subsidized by other European taxpayers)

'European generosity' does rang better, though. After all, that's what Europe is all about.

IMO, that the Olympics move is good - it shows that the Olympics ARE international. And the ability for the host to showcase his culture is a big perk. A for the 'ruinous' argument, the Rio Olympics were a disaster economically speaking, but a lot of previous weren't and actually were profitable for the hosts - the Rio Olympics were just too ambitious.

Pempelune wrote: 'European generosity' does rang better, though. After all, that's what Europe is all about.

IMO, that the Olympics move is good - it shows that the Olympics ARE international. And the ability for the host to showcase his culture his a big perk. A for the 'ruinous' argument, he Rio Olympics were a disaster economically speaking, but a lot of previous weren't and actually were profitable for the hosts - the Rio Olympics were just too ambitious.

(Bold added by me for emphasis.)

This is an important part of the issue for me. While I understand the reasons that having the summer Olympics only take place in Greece might be for the best, for me as a spectator the Olympics have always been about competing and celebrating as a GLOBAL community, and the fact that they would be in a different place, highlighting a different culture, every four years is a HUGE part of that. I'd hate to see that tradition be phased out.

I vote "no" to a permanent Olympic in Greece.

I'm Australian, we're on the complete opposite side of the world, but always send a huge team to the Olympics. Your basically giving a rich region of the world (Europe) a huge permanent advantage. It costs a lot to compete in the Olympics, and sending things like yachts to the complete other side of the world is expensive.

When it moves around, the advantages of it being "next door" are spread around, and the poorer countries can send more competitors when it is close to them, and not so many on the years it's far away, and this swaps around. If you leave it permanently in Greece you'd basically be making it the "European and rich other countries" games.

By the way, this is true not just for the competitors, but the spectators too. When the Games were is Sydney I and my family got to see them. Europe is the other side of the world! It costs a fortune to get there and stay there. You'd turn it into something only the Europeans care about, because only they can afford to go to them!

I believe 'Centralized' areas would be best as the sites could/would be maintained better than if they are kept going in a 'round robin' affect. Cities/states/provinces/countries, are saddled with skyrocketing dept in wanting to be the host and in the case of the last one, it was nearly a disaster in respect for those attending and around.

All sides are seeing the corruption that has been happening and thus there were countries that 'refused' to participate or pulled out when they read the demands the Olympic Committees demanded that be present years down the road. In other words it turned into a farce from what had been envisioned.

I wouldn't be surprised if Japan were to 'renegotiate' its role of participation given the current scandal. I know I would else I would tell them where to go.

Basically your tying up land/resources and people to bring about 2 weeks worth of events and then have a place turn into a virtual ghost town. Buildings are not meant to last. Roads fall apart and so forth. And all for what? A chance to have kudos placed upon your country until the next go around or forgotten soon after.

It would cost millions to clean up what was built.

And the promise of jobs is fleeting in that its like any construction job. Once its finished the workers are laid off until needed.

I applaud those that go for what its meant but now even that's turned into a media event afterwards. Contracts, sponsorship and so forth. But I think now the spirit of what it was meant to be is long forgotten.

Contrary to some statements above, a LOT of cities have shown a net profit, or at least no waste. it's even more noted in the WINTER games, where EVERY US host city has not only _not lost money_, but made a profit (admittedly, if it wasn't for Rommey in 2002, Salt Lake...) and by and large, none of the rinks, tracks, et al, went to waste afterwards. US Summer games have a similar track record, acutally. What's _really_ ironic, is at least two US city bids recently (NOT Chicago, btw): Basically stated they didn't NEED to build _anything_, just set up and do some renovations.

It's not the Olympics themselves are expensive, it's that the bidders and awarders at times don't THINK, long term. Tokyo, IIRC, actually didn't have to build very much, ethier. But, realistically? At least three US cities can cold host the Games, right the hades now. At LEAST. The REAL issue, isn' t that the Games are costly to run, they're really not. The cost is building the infrastructure for the games. And a lot of the recent games (with the possible exception of London, who actually did NOT lose money, btw, though East London's a bit of a suprise) have gone to areas where, frankly? It wasn't.

(NY, LA, Dallas, possibly Houston, Alanta (can't spell), Phoniex is a possible, Mexico City should be able to or close to it, London, Paris(iffy), Berlin, etc. (though yatching would be interesting), SF could (well, if it spread out), in theory, anyways. Sure a few other cities could too.)

(Quick look shows the only major 'job' the Tokyo Committee had to do was refurb/rebuild the 1960 NOS, though that's about a 1-1.3 billion job. Compare to other cities. BUT Japan uses that for OTHER things too, like the World Cup, IIRC on occasion their World Series or similar games, and of course 2019 Rugby...) Most of the other infrastructure is already present and already in use for other things, just can be repurposed really quick.