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Old July 9th, 2006, 07:57 PM posted to rec.travel.europe
Citizen Ted
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Posts: 18
Default Madrid to bid for 2016 Olympics

On Sun, 09 Jul 2006 09:12:15 GMT, (Jim Ley) wrote:

On Sat, 08 Jul 2006 18:45:32 -0700, Citizen Ted
wrote:

IMHO, the summer Olympics should be held at Athens in perpetuity. They
invented the Games and it is the Athenians to whom we tip our hats
when we consider the spirit of the Games.


Erm? No it's not The games are clearly a function of Dr Brookes and
Baron de Coubertain, neither are greek gentleman.


Niggling pedantic balderdash.

Coubertin (not Coubertain) founded the IOC, and when he first proposed
reviving the Games, he did so with an explicit historical nod to the
original Greek games. As such, he insisted that the first games be
held in Athens. William Penny Brookes launched a series of
Olympic-style games, and he admitted his inspiration was the original
Greek games. Thus, it is to the Greeks that Coubertin, Brookes and the
rest of us "tip our hats when we consider the spirit of the Games" -
your naysaying notwithstanding. Bitch.

Generally you seem to be confusing two seperate activities, one is the
games, the other is the excuse that can be used to convince people in
democracies to strike through the NIMBYism so rennovation can proceed.
Are the olympics really worse than 15 years of delays whilst the
planning process and the courts have their say?


I'm not confusing anything, and your statement doesn't make any sense
in reference to my post. There is ample evidence of graft, bribery and
cronyism when it comes to hosting the Games. It's ugly and it's
unnecessary. Is it really NIMBYism when a community decides that its
taxes and sacrifices are better spent on meaningful infrastructure,
rather than pork barrel construction projects with limited long-term
viability? Your refence to 15 years of delays eludes me - I don't know
what you're talking about. But it seems clear to me that if the world
agreed to keep the summer games in Athens, it would merely require a
bit of refurbishing of the current Athenian infrastructure and the
addition of new technologies as they develop. This could be done in a
year or two. With financing from all countries interested in playing
the games, Greece would be freed of the cost burden while enjoying the
economic benefits.

I find the current climate of bribery and cronyism inre bidding to
host the Games to be vile and reprehensible. But I guess your post
demonstrates that there are people who don't care about that and are
more interested in the "prestige" of hosting the Games. IMHO, the
"prestige" should be garnered in WINNING MEDALS, not winning bids to
host.

Please note that I'm still leaving the door open to bids for hosting
the Winter Olympics. Throwing this bone to self-important provincial
assholes should be enough of a compromise for them to consider giving
Athens host duties of the Summer Games in perpetuity.

- TR