Can Vancouver Host the summer olympics?

[SpongeG]

nothing wrong with spending some money on sports and getting kids interested in them, i am sure it will help many of them to grow up better and have better lives than throwing more welfare money around

[Chadillaccc]

I think an African Olympics would be an awesome thing to see. Look at the way South Africa tackled FIFA, all of the stadiums they built/renovated were amazing looking and totally world class venues, especially Soccer City in Johannesburg, Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, and Capetown Stadium. Plus the state of Gauteng (the state that contains Johannesburg and the country's Administrative capital, Pretoria) just built the Gautrain, a rapid rail subway-metro style rapid transit system which basically connects the entire urban area of the state. There could definitely be a shared olympics between Joburg and Pretoria.

[Pinion]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

nothing wrong with spending some money on sports and getting kids interested in them, i am sure it will help many of them to grow up better and have better lives than throwing more welfare money around

Yeah who needs food and housing when you have sports!

[SpongeG]

I am tired of hearing welfare people whine about how they want more more more, tired of hearing welfare people refer to welfare day as pay day

if they had more opportunities given to them they could be more productive, sports, arts, science all deserve funding not just funding for housing and handouts

[Pinion]

Welfare is pathetically low for anyone trying to live in metro Vancouver, where the jobs are. I don't know how people do it.

No argument that virtually everything needs more funding.

[crazyjoeda]

Of course Vancouver could host the Summer Olympics, but I've notice cities that bid for the Summer Games are generally a bit lager 4 million or more. Vancouver would require a lot of new venues that would probably be under utilized after the games ended.

The Winter Olympics provided better value for Vancouver, the infrastructure built for the games is well used and Vancouver received a similar level of media exposure in key markets such as the US and Europe.

Canada shouldn't consider hosting the Summer Olympics until we see respectable results in the medal tables. We finished 35th overall in London, why host the games and give all the medals to the USA and China? I'd rather see Quebec host the Winter Olympics than Toronto or Vancouver host the Summer Games.

[mr.x]

PART 2: http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2012/08/t...games-part-ii/

"In this second part of our 3-part Vancity Buzz Special Exclusive Series, we focus on the competition sport venues required to host the Summer Olympic Games here in Metro Vancouver and Victoria."

[go_leafs_go02]

Good read, quite interesting. Didn't like that alot of the events were in Victoria - I think a separate bridge crossing would be necessary. BC Ferries could never accommodate demand for transportation. Also, thought building a new athletics stadium a stones throw away from BC place would be fully redundant. Something that could be converted into a soccer-only stadium down the road would be most ideal.

[Darren Tate]

Originally Posted by Pinion

Did we get anything from the winter olympics besides the Canada line and good feelings? Tourism is way down... but I haven't seen a real analysis of the effects yet (one that came out right after doesn't count).

Agreed. And as glad as I am that we now have the Canada Line, did we really need the Olympics to justify it being built? Vancouver needed that regardless. Personally, I think the Olympics is a big sham. The long-term costs far outweigh the short-term benefits, but starry-eyed Olympics fans will never believe that. Montreal just finished paying off their '76 Olympics a couple of years ago. Will we ever be told the truth about how long it will take to finish paying for ours? Doubtful. I can't believe people are even seriously pondering this. Talk about f**ked up priorities.

[twoNeurons]

The Olympics, like them or not, are quite political. You have a few thousand athletes who are wearing uniforms made of flags.

If they were really about bringing the world together through sport, the uniforms would be dictated by the event, not by the government that paid for all the training.

Uniform requirement: Must wear a flag
Winner: Gets to hears their national anthem while their flag is raised
Medal count: Sorted by Country
Athletes that fail: Tend to apologize to their country

Imagine an Olympic games where each event had a standard style and color of uniform and the winner was presented their medal and honored for their personal achievement without any anthem or flag being raised.

Imagine high divers from China, Canada, Chile and Mexico all wearing similar patterns on their uniforms and their name being the only indication of what language they happen to speak.

Instead of supporting "our athletes" you'd be supporting a specific athlete.

What's ironically hypocritical about the whole thing is that the IOC doesn't allow "political statements" and will deny an athlete their medal if they make a political statement (e.g. Korea - Japan bronze medal game).

[Pinion]

I found logos like Nike swooshes just as prominent as country indicators.



That's what the olympics are really about. Countries are just an outdated technicality.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by Darren Tate

Agreed. And as glad as I am that we now have the Canada Line, did we really need the Olympics to justify it being built? Vancouver needed that regardless. Personally, I think the Olympics is a big sham. The long-term costs far outweigh the short-term benefits, but starry-eyed Olympics fans will never believe that. Montreal just finished paying off their '76 Olympics a couple of years ago. Will we ever be told the truth about how long it will take to finish paying for ours? Doubtful. I can't believe people are even seriously pondering this. Talk about f**ked up priorities.

Indeed. The question isn't "Can Vancouver Host the Summer Olympics" it is "Why on Earth Would Vancouver Want to Host the Summer Olympics?" The 2012 games did what even the Great Recession could not, drove demand down in London hotels, theatres and restaurants. Some reported drops of up to 40%! But thank heavens, they sure put London "on the map", yessir And of course, we're still waiting here in Vancouver for that huge bonanza of tourists that was supposed to flow from our massive expenditure.

Second, the IOC would never award the Summer Olympics to a second tier city like Vancouver. The UK was told it was London or nothing when they made the bid. Vancouver is on the same level as Manchester or Edinburgh, not London, Paris, Rio etc.

[Xerx]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Second, the IOC would never award the Summer Olympics to a second tier city like Vancouver. The UK was told it was London or nothing when they made the bid. Vancouver is on the same level as Manchester or Edinburgh, not London, Paris, Rio etc.

What about Atlanta?

[CPE]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Indeed. The question isn't "Can Vancouver Host the Summer Olympics" it is "Why on Earth Would Vancouver Want to Host the Summer Olympics?" The 2012 games did what even the Great Recession could not, drove demand down in London hotels, theatres and restaurants. Some reported drops of up to 40%! But thank heavens, they sure put London "on the map", yessir And of course, we're still waiting here in Vancouver for that huge bonanza of tourists that was supposed to flow from our massive expenditure.

Second, the IOC would never award the Summer Olympics to a second tier city like Vancouver. The UK was told it was London or nothing when they made the bid. Vancouver is on the same level as Manchester or Edinburgh, not London, Paris, Rio etc.

Are you saying that Vancouver isn't a world class city!?

[Hourglass]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Indeed. The question isn't "Can Vancouver Host the Summer Olympics" it is "Why on Earth Would Vancouver Want to Host the Summer Olympics?" The 2012 games did what even the Great Recession could not, drove demand down in London hotels, theatres and restaurants. Some reported drops of up to 40%! But thank heavens, they sure put London "on the map", yessir And of course, we're still waiting here in Vancouver for that huge bonanza of tourists that was supposed to flow from our massive expenditure.

That's certainly one view of London 2012. The other view (as observed from someone who is actually has been in London for the past couple of weeks) is that the Games was an amazing event that brought Londoners -- and the country -- together, provided a significant boost to national pride, served to regenerate huge swathes of the city that needed it, and provided legacy facilities that will continue to be used in years to come. The Fleet Street rags are quick to smell blood, but when it comes to the Olympics, they have been fully onboard -- and proud of it.

Is it worth the billions of £s that have been spent? I don't know. Maybe there will be a huge hangover when the party is over. But for now, the naysayers are in the tiny minority (or have been drowned out)

Oh, and the 'vast tourism bonanza' for Vancouver after the 2010 games? In the middle of a deepening global economic crisis? Sorry, that seems a bit unfair, maybe even a bit disingenuous. I believe the effects in terms of increased awareness and tourism will be felt over many years. My personal observation from walking around downtown Vancouver this summer is that I'm hearing a heck of a lot more different languages on the street compared with previous years. Not just Asian languages, but German, Spanish, French and eastern European languages as well. Would be interested to find out if anyone else has noticed this.

[spaceprobe]

Originally Posted by Hourglass

That's certainly one view of London 2012. The other view (as observed from someone who is actually has been in London for the past couple of weeks) is that the Games was an amazing event that brought Londoners -- and the country -- together, provided a significant boost to national pride, served to regenerate huge swathes of the city that needed it, and provided legacy facilities that will continue to be used in years to come. The Fleet Street rags are quick to smell blood, but when it comes to the Olympics, they have been fully onboard -- and proud of it.

Is it worth the billions of £s that have been spent? I don't know. Maybe there will be a huge hangover when the party is over. But for now, the naysayers are in the tiny minority (or have been drowned out)

Oh, and the 'vast tourism bonanza' for Vancouver after the 2010 games? In the middle of a deepening global economic crisis? Sorry, that seems a bit unfair, maybe even a bit disingenuous. I believe the effects in terms of increased awareness and tourism will be felt over many years. My personal observation from walking around downtown Vancouver this summer is that I'm hearing a heck of a lot more different languages on the street compared with previous years. Not just Asian languages, but German, Spanish, French and eastern European languages as well. Would be interested to find out if anyone else has noticed this.

I agree....it is hard to know what the effects of the Olympics have been by general observations made by people who aren't experts at doing the calculations and estimations.....and even for experts is it somewhat of a guessing game. What would tourism and our economy be like in 2012 if the Olympics didn't happen? The economies of the industrialized nations are currently going down the drain. Is Vancouver and BC going downs the drain less than if the Olympics didn't happen?

Perhaps economists could "guestimate" by seeing the performance of other jurisdications with similar economics to Vancouver and how they performed without the Olympics happening. There would be dozens or hundreds of confounders that would have to be accounted for.....in the end, it is a complex games of statistics to determine whether Vancouver fared better with the games or without the games.

[EastVanMark]

In modern-day Olympic bidding, only the heavy-weight cities have a chance of getting the Olympics. Vancouver falls well short in a number of categories. Heck, it will even be hard for Toronto to get the Olympics as they are outgunned by cities like Tokyo, Paris, Rome etc. To illustrate this Chicago a city that is light-years ahead of Vancouver in many, many categories, was eliminated in the first round of voting for the 2016 games. There are no weak sisters in Summer Olympic bidding which is the opposite situation of the Winter Games. In fact, we would be the weak sister.

Remember, Vancouver was actually behind Pyeongchang in the first round of voting and was by far the largest city in the competition. (Pyeonchang's bid was actually rated higher by most but lost out to Vancouver largely because of politics).

The article is kinda funny in that right off the bat it shows the proposed main stadium in Victoria for the 94' Commonwealth Games that was bungled and of course as history shows us, was never built. Some of their venue choices would never fly with the IOC (Calgary is out of the question). Also, couldn't help but giggle when they mentioned basketball being held at the Coliseum while rythmic gymnastics gets Rogers Arena. Olympic basketball was THE hottest ticket in London by FAR and would be even bigger here.

Canada as a nation just doesn't spend much on major international games and that works well for the smaller competitions, but for the Summer Olympics we would fall well short.

Toronto is currently following Rio's lead by hosting the Pan Am games in efforts to break up the large monetary expenditure needed by building venues for the Pan Am Games that can also be used for the Olympics or easily upgraded for same. That move is designed to cushion the shock of the high price tag needed to host a Summer Olympics by spreading costs over a period of time.

More realistically, Vancouver should bid on a Pan Am or Commonwealth Games in the next 10-20 years. That way we would fill in the shortage of Summer sports infrastructure while using/upgrading facilities used in 2010.

[Xerx]

What about bidding on a Youth Summer Olympics? That would be cool.

[twoNeurons]

Canada will get the World Cup before Vancouver gets a Summer Olympics. Anyway, now that the games are over, it will be at least another two years before someone opens up another thread entitled "Can Vancouver host the Summer Olympics?"

[mr.x]

Originally Posted by EastVanMark

In modern-day Olympic bidding, only the heavy-weight cities have a chance of getting the Olympics. Vancouver falls well short in a number of categories. Heck, it will even be hard for Toronto to get the Olympics as they are outgunned by cities like Tokyo, Paris, Rome etc. To illustrate this Chicago a city that is light-years ahead of Vancouver in many, many categories, was eliminated in the first round of voting for the 2016 games. There are no weak sisters in Summer Olympic bidding which is the opposite situation of the Winter Games. In fact, we would be the weak sister.

Remember, Vancouver was actually behind Pyeongchang in the first round of voting and was by far the largest city in the competition. (Pyeonchang's bid was actually rated higher by most but lost out to Vancouver largely because of politics).

The article is kinda funny in that right off the bat it shows the proposed main stadium in Victoria for the 94' Commonwealth Games that was bungled and of course as history shows us, was never built. Some of their venue choices would never fly with the IOC (Calgary is out of the question). Also, couldn't help but giggle when they mentioned basketball being held at the Coliseum while rythmic gymnastics gets Rogers Arena. Olympic basketball was THE hottest ticket in London by FAR and would be even bigger here.

Canada as a nation just doesn't spend much on major international games and that works well for the smaller competitions, but for the Summer Olympics we would fall well short.

Toronto is currently following Rio's lead by hosting the Pan Am games in efforts to break up the large monetary expenditure needed by building venues for the Pan Am Games that can also be used for the Olympics or easily upgraded for same. That move is designed to cushion the shock of the high price tag needed to host a Summer Olympics by spreading costs over a period of time.

More realistically, Vancouver should bid on a Pan Am or Commonwealth Games in the next 10-20 years. That way we would fill in the shortage of Summer sports infrastructure while using/upgrading facilities used in 2010.

According to another article at vancitybuzz, which cites the IOC's evaluation report for the 2010 bid, there were more overall positive comments about Vancouver than the other bid cities.

I think the rendering of Victoria's ceremonies stadium is meant to show the imagination behind the bidding process, thinking otherwise negatively about it seems a bit too cynical.

Beijing 2008 hosted its equestrian matches at HONG KONG, and some of its football venues were as far away as SHANGHAI. If I were you I'd take a look at a map and see how far away these cities are from Beijing.....having a football venue and equestrian facility at Calgary is certainly doable.

If you look at the Olympic basketball and gymnastics venues used over the past few Games, you'd see that the gymnastics venues are always the larger indoor arenas. And it's no biggie, the difference between Rogers Arena and the Coliseum are maybe a mere 1,000-2,000 seats when you include floor seating for basketball at the Coliseum.