2016 Olympics

Which city should host the 2016 Olympic games?

  • Chicago

    Votes: 8 38.1%

  • Rio de Janeiro

    Votes: 11 52.4%

  • Tokyo

    Votes: 1 4.8%

  • Madrid

    Votes: 1 4.8%
  • Total voters
    21
I bet Madrid is pissed right now.

You know, pure Spaniards beaten by "barbarian" South Americans, a lot of Spaniards I know really get superior about themselves at times.
 
TikiNYC said:
I bet Madrid is pissed right now.
You know, pure Spaniards beaten by "barbarian" South Americans, a lot of Spaniards I know really get superior about themselves at times.
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Just saying, Brazil was Portuguese.
 
But many Spaniards still feel that way. One of the Madrid bid team members snarled that Rio was "the worst of all the bids" before the vote took place.
 
I understand that these plans are very preliminary, but if the olympic village is built like that, it will be a terrible allocation of space
 
pelhamhall said:
If the Greeks could handle the Olympics then I'm quite sure the Brazilians can handle it.

And yes, I know that the Greeks could not handle the Olympics and were bailed out from epic worldwide embarrassment by the Germans and other EU partners.

Greek solution to the pool complex roof not being complete? No problem, welcome to our suddenly outdoor pool complex. Brilliant!
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pelhamhall, are you skating on the edge of racism ?

(Those Greeks: they can't be expected to get anything right.}
 
Any city can put on a spectacular Olympic games. Athens did, Beijing did. Not many can handle the total effect of the Olympic games; personally, I believe the only bids that could properly handle the aftermath was Chicago and Tokyo. Rio has a long way to go to implement all of the infrastructure needed to host the games and the WC, which will cost an exorbitant amount of money, which will undoubtedly be diverted from other funds. Afterward, I predict Rio will be in the same situation as Athens is now-a bunch of unused stadiums and parks, and ridiculous debt. Maybe Chicago is better off not getting the games. How much does anyone want to bet they're already planning the Chicago 2020 bid?

Then again, the Olympics in Rio could lead to huge boost in outside investment, and the city might benefit in the long run. I'm no economist.
 
kennedy said:
Any city can put on a spectacular Olympic games. Athens did, Beijing did. Not many can handle the total effect of the Olympic games; personally, I believe the only bids that could properly handle the aftermath was Chicago and Tokyo. Rio has a long way to go to implement all of the infrastructure needed to host the games and the WC, which will cost an exorbitant amount of money, which will undoubtedly be diverted from other funds. Afterward, I predict Rio will be in the same situation as Athens is now-a bunch of unused stadiums and parks, and ridiculous debt. Maybe Chicago is better off not getting the games. How much does anyone want to bet they're already planning the Chicago 2020 bid?

Then again, the Olympics in Rio could lead to huge boost in outside investment, and the city might benefit in the long run. I'm no economist.
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Brazil is a sports-mad country, and Rio is a larger city than Athens. The Olympic stadium would be its current main stadium now, and many of the other facilities would be reused from the 2007 Pan-American Games. I don't think the costs associated with the sports infrastructure would be that high, or the new spaces wasted.

Most of what they'll be spending on will be general infrastructure improvements, many of which should have long-term payoff - a new ring road and ring railway, a new airport access road, a new high-speed rail connection to Sao Paulo (and the budget for that is being shared with the 2014 World Cup). It definitely has potential to pay off - more so than the most transformative Olympics, Barcelona '92 - in terms of both investment and rebranding.
 
One can hope. It really could go both ways; the infrastructure (both athletic and civic) Rio builds for the WC and Olympics will be greatly beneficial to the city and region, but at what cost? There's a huge amount of money needed to complete all of the infrastructure projects they want to do. It's certainly a daunting task.

But, they won it, and it is in everyone's best interests to support the city and ensure a successful Olympics. If I see one more comment on an article that goes along the lines of "Fuck Rio..." I'll be sick.
 
The money won't be that much of an issue. Unlike the US, where cities are left to finance these events on their own, the Brazilian federal government can pay for everything - and probably will.
 
czsz said:
The money won't be that much of an issue. Unlike the US, where cities are left to finance these events on their own, the Brazilian federal government can pay for everything - and probably will.
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Yeah, its expected that the feds will pick up most of the tab, including security. They have a federal government thats actually based off the american one, but the central government is much more active.
 
Are pictures of abandoned houses in detroit appropriate for the chicago bid?

If not, then why those videos?
 
I don't get this Detroit analogy at all. I think negative portrayals of social conditions in Chicago would have been totally appropriate to bring up when discussing the Chicago bid. These videos, similarly, were made in the city of Rio.

For the record:

The favelas nonetheless are located closely to the wealthiest districts in the city.[76] Upper-class neighbourhoods such as Ipanema and Lagoa and others, like Jardim Bot?nico, Jo? e G?vea are squeezed in between the beach and the hills, the latter of which are covered with poor neighbourhoods. Poor public education and health system, combined with the saturation of the penitentiary system, contribute to the poverty. The social disparity creates a clash between rich and poor.[77]
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_de_Janeiro

Indeed, Maracana stadium is in the North Zone of the city, which holds its largest concentration of violent neighborhoods.

If the media covers the runup to these Olympics as they did China's, it will be all about social conditions and crime. You can't go to Rio and ignore this stuff. Even if every Olympic site and middle class neighborhood is perfectly secured, the contrast between them and the favelas will be glaring.
 
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Ive been to rio. Tourist time and favela time are kept very separate.
 
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