Off-Season Olympics Coverage

[caracas1914]

With Boston pulling out, I am wondering if LA will bite the bullet and be the US rep for the 2024 Summer Olympics, having hosted last in 1984. The only way I could see that fly is absolutely zero construction for new facilities. If the Olympic committee doesn't think the Coliseum is up to snuff, oh well.

ETA:

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/sports/USOC-Los-Angeles-San-Francisco-Joint-Olympic-Bid-319654211.html#

Talk of a joint LA/Bay area Bid for the Olympics

Edited July 31, 2015 by caracas1914

[Daisy]

So Beijing will host the 2022 Winter Olympics, becoming the first city ever to host both the Winter and Summer Games.  http://news.yahoo.com/almaty-beijing-final-pitches-ahead-22-olympic-vote-023001338--spt.html

 

Good luck with that, Beijing, considering that you don't get any natural snowfall.

 

 

(sigh). This really bums me out. I don't mind Asia at all, but the Winter Olympics are my favourite and we're already doing Korea and their time difference, Tokyo (for the Summer) and then back to China? Ugh. I know I must sound like ugly North American right now, but  really like the bounce between Euro-Asia and Pan-America. 

 

though with almost every single city BUT Asia not bidding i guess their hands are tied.

 

I will be really interested in the bidding for the 2026 Winter Games. Western Europe is increasing skeptical about the merits of hosting (Poland, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland all withdrew from consideration for 2022 because of political opposition.) The US public is increasingly skeptical. South Korea, Japan and Canada will have hosted games relatively recently. So who's left?

 

I think tey're really going to have to re-calculate how 'expensive' to make these games now. I know that Toronto is considering the Olympic Bid for 2024 (which if they did they're totally losing just because of politics, even though the IOC is pushing for it),so they are going to push for 2028 (maybe). a lot of Canadian places get turned down because we don't have suitable mountains for the Skiing.  something is going to have to give, or  I guess maybe you just double dip? (I would not shed a tear to have another Whistler :D )

[Rick Kitchen]

I will be really interested in the bidding for the 2026 Winter Games. Western Europe is increasing skeptical about the merits of hosting (Poland, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland all withdrew from consideration for 2022 because of political opposition.) The US public is increasingly skeptical. South Korea, Japan and Canada will have hosted games relatively recently. So who's left?

 

Horrible, sooty air and no mountains within 100 miles of the host city.  That's going to be an interesting Olympics.

 

The only other bidder besides Beijing was Almaty, Kazakhstan, home to a horrific dictatorship.  I wonder if their anti-gay stance had anything to do with their not getting the bid, after the Olympics claimed that they would no longer award a Games to a country with anti-gay laws on the books.

 

Reno/Sacramento are interested in the 2026 Winter Games.

[selkie]

I think the IOC was not thrilled with either of the last two standing for 2022, and figured that at least they knew Beijing would be reliable, which is appreciated when both Rio and Korea 2018 seem to be running behind schedule on venue construction.

 

I wouldn't mind seeing Chile make a bid for a winter games since so many Alpine athletes train there in the off season already, but the existing regular season schedule for the sledding and nordic skiing sports is so Northern Hemisphere-specific and the number of Southern Hemisphere training spots for those sports is so small that it would be hard to get athletes at the top of their form at the Games there.

[AimingforYoko]

 

The only way I could see that fly is absolutely zero construction for new facilities. If the Olympic committee doesn't think the Coliseum is up to snuff, oh well.

There's a 99% chance a new football stadium will be built by then.

[Rick Kitchen]

There's a 99% chance a new football stadium will be built by then.

 

Or two.

[xaxat]

A couple points about the LA stadium situation. A new stadium would be designed specifically for football, and wouldn't have room to accommodate a track. If two teams (some combination of Raiders/Chargers/Rams) occupy it, the stadium will have field turf. So it would be unusable for track and field and soccer. They would still need a major renovation for the Coliseum.

 

In addition, the new stadium will essentially be a private, not municipal resource. Which presents all sorts of issues. For example, what happens if the naming rights are purchased by a competitor to one of the official Olympic sponsors? What happens if Pepsi signs the concession contract instead of Coke, the official partner of the Olympics? It could wind up costing a lot of money to make those types of things go away, if it's even possible.

[caracas1914]

How much would an upgrade to the Coliseum cost to bring it up to IOC standards? I could easily see that spiralling over 500 million. Wasn't there talk in Chicago's bid a few years back that a temporary stadium that could be dismantled might be the way to go?

Edited July 31, 2015 by caracas1914

[xaxat]

Boston had a temporary stadium as part of their bid. They allow the land to be used for another purpose after the games, but aren't much cheaper than a permanent facility.

 

 

“No one should think it’s cheaper than building a stadium; the requirements are the same for life safety, fireproofing, egress — everything has to work and be to code, meaning the way you build it is not going to be that much different from a permanent stadium,” said Marc Schulitz, a German architect who helped design the 55,000-seat Arena Fonte Nova in Brazil, which was used for the 2014 World Cup.

 

ETA: They weren't kidding about a lack of snow for the Beijing sites. Yanqing, home of the alpine events. January 20-23 2015.

 

 

This is going to be a strange looking Olympics.

Edited August 1, 2015 by xaxat

[selkie]

South Sudan becomes the 206th member of the IOC

 

https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/south-sudan-becomes-olympic-movements-206th-member-121212156--spt.html

 

 

South Sudan's marathon runner Guor Marial competed at the London 2012 Olympics but did so under the Olympic flag after refusing to run for Sudan and with South Sudan not yet an IOC member at the time.

[selkie]

Dear NBC Sports- I know that you've got a policy of like never ever showing a full 800 or 1500 free race because you think distance swimming is boring, but could you please make an exception for today's women's 800M free World Championships? I caught the race live on another feed this morning, and that was just as mesmerizing a display of dominance in the sport as you'll ever see.

[selkie]

IOC official promises to jump into polluted Brazilian bay to demonstrate it's not dangerous to athletes:

 

http://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1029333/ioc-praise-fantastic-rio-2016-amid-a-vow-to-jump-into-guanabara-bay-to-prove-water-safety

[ketchuplover]

Bolt beat Gatlin by 0.01 seconds in the 100M Final in the bird's nest

[MyAimIsTrue]

What a thrilling race!

[Rick Kitchen]

The international yachting association has said that they may pull the boat races out into the middle of the Atlantic to avoid the polluted bay.

[Daisy]

Boston had a temporary stadium as part of their bid. They allow the land to be used for another purpose after the games, but aren't much cheaper than a permanent facility.

 

 

ETA: They weren't kidding about a lack of snow for the Beijing sites. Yanqing, home of the alpine events. January 20-23 2015.

 

 

This is going to be a strange looking Olympics.

 

 

one of two things

 

1: they can do Nagano, and pray for snow (then get so much snow it actually shuts some events down). or 

2: powder. and lots of it. 

[AimingforYoko]

The apparently not washed-up Usain Bolt cruised to his third gold at the Worlds in Beijing because the U.S. still cannot get a small cylindrical object around the track.

[xaxat]

Why can't the US figure out how to pass the baton? I remember it being an issue going back to Seoul, where it probably cost Carl Lewis another gold.

[legaleagle53]

L.A. is probably going to be the U.S. entrant for the 2024 Summer Games:  http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2015/08/30/los-angeles-strikes-2024-olympic-bid-deal-with-usoc-source-says/

[ketchuplover]

Slowest runner increasing to fastest runner is how all relay teams should run imo.  Oh and don't screw up the baton passing!

[Humbugged]

Why can't the US figure out how to pass the baton? I remember it being an issue going back to Seoul, where it probably cost Carl Lewis another gold.

Try being a Brit .We are even worse than you

[legaleagle53]

It's official:  Los Angeles is bidding for the 2024 Summer Olympics:  http://olympictalk.nbcsports.com/2015/09/01/los-angeles-2024-olympic-bid-la2024-usoc/

 

Something tells me that LA could well be the favorite come the announcement in 2017.

[selkie]

And we have found a bigger douchebag than Sep Blatter:

 

http://running.competitor.com/2015/11/news/former-iaaf-president-arrested-on-charges-of-corruption_139342

 

 

Former International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) president Lamine Diack of Senegal was arrested and charged with corruption and money laundering in France on Monday, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday.

The 82-year-old, who earlier this year stepped down as the leader of the organization after 16 years at the helm, is suspected of taking at least 200,000 euros from Russia to cover up positive doping tests

 

Other high ranking IAAF officials are implicated including its anti-doping chief and the organization's Monaco headquarters has been raided by French police.  This just seems worse than the FIFA scandal to me because FIFA was largely about hosting and tv rights and this one directly involves dirty athletes allowed on the field of play.

[Elsydeon]

And we have found a bigger douchebag than Sep Blatter:

 

http://running.competitor.com/2015/11/news/former-iaaf-president-arrested-on-charges-of-corruption_139342

 

 

Other high ranking IAAF officials are implicated including its anti-doping chief and the organization's Monaco headquarters has been raided by French police.  This just seems worse than the FIFA scandal to me because FIFA was largely about hosting and tv rights and this one directly involves dirty athletes allowed on the field of play.

 

The current scandal at FIFA is just one of many things that makes Sepp Blatter so detestable, but that's beside the point.

 

This is a pretty big deal. I'm not even surprised. Very saddened that yet another sporting organization is totally corrupt, but not surprised.

[selkie]

WADA has recommended the' death penalty' for Rusian track & field because of massive systematic doping:

 

https://wada-main-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/resources/files/wada_independent_commission_report_1_en.pdf

 

 

1.
THAT WADA shall immediately declare ARAF to be Code
non
-
compliant.  (The
IC  would  have  no  objection  to  and  suggests  that  ARAF  might,  should  it  prefer,
agree to an immediate provisional suspension in order to begin remedial actions
to achieve Code compliance as quickly as possible.)

 

8.
THAT  WADA  recommend  to  the  IOC  that  it  not  accept  any  entries  from  ARAF
(or the Russian NOC in respect of athletics) until ARAF has been declared Code
compliant pursuant to a reasoned decision by WADA

 

[Rick Kitchen]

Unfortunately, that isn't going to happen.

[AimingforYoko]

Unfortunately, that isn't going to happen.

Not unless they want a little Polonium aperitif before dinner.

[selkie]

I think the Russians could have avoided the worst of it if they had kept the state-sponsored doping internal like the East Germans and Chinese did back in the day. It's the currently unreleased part 2 of the report involving bribing the president of the IAAF to suppress repeated positive drug tests that's going to be hard to make go away, especially if Diack, who is 80+ years old and not wanting to spend his remaining years in a French prison, decides to tell all.

[selkie]

Russian track & Field provisionally banned from international competition including Rio.

 

http://www.bbc.com/sport/athletics/34811896

[Mittengirl]

NBC Sports Network (tagged NBCSP on my Comcast listings) is airing a one-hour recap of the Winter Youth Olympics from Lillehammer every night at 11:30 p.m. Eastern time.

[SophiaD]

If Crystal Dunn doesn't make the Olympic soccer team, it will be a travesty.  She scored FIVE goals tonight.  FIVE goals????

 

We got to see some new faces, including Mallory Pugh again, and Samantha Mewis' first goal ever.  I did feel a bit sorry for Puerto Rico.  It reminded me of my senior year playing soccer and not in a good way.

[Elsydeon]

If Crystal Dunn doesn't make the Olympic soccer team, it will be a travesty.  She scored FIVE goals tonight.  FIVE goals????

 

We got to see some new faces, including Mallory Pugh again, and Samantha Mewis' first goal ever.  I did feel a bit sorry for Puerto Rico.  It reminded me of my senior year playing soccer and not in a good way.

 

Barring injury, Dunn is in the 18 for Rio. Now she needs to work on passing the ball more. She had fewer passes in these 3 games than everyone of the regular starters (minus Hope, of course). Lloyd had more passes in her half of play yesterday than Dunn had in all 3 group games.

 

Most CONCACAF teams that are that overmatched will often resort to cheap fouls and other dirty tricks. Good to see that Puerto Rico didn't pull any of that crap. They knew going in they were going to get beaten easily, and they still played fairly and honestly. I didn't feel sorry for them, but I respect their not going the dirty play route.

[selkie]

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/feb/15/former-russian-anti-doping-chief-nikita-kamayev-dies-report

 

Former head of RUSADA  suffers from 'fatal heart attack' two months after being forced out amid a criminal investigation on whether the agency paid bribes to cover up positive drug tests. According to a paywalled Times UK article, he had been working on a book that his friends were urging him NOT to try to publish at the time of his death.

 

Sometimes the conspiracy theory is so obvious you don't even need to break out the tin foil.

 

And oh yeah- "Russian report finds "not single piece of evidence" Government were involved in state-supported doping"

 

http://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1034289/russian-report-finds-not-single-piece-of-evidence-government-were-involved-in-state-supported-doping

[Mittengirl]

I was just watching FINA World Cup diving on NBCSP and the divers from Mexico had the initials SMF next to their names, rather than the country's initials (MEX), and the FINA logo instead of the Mexican flag. Anyone know why?

[selkie]

Mexico's aquatics federation is currently under suspension from FINA over a cancellation fee when the Mexican federation had to pull out of hosting the 2017 World Aquatics Championships. Mexico said they have paid as agreed; FINA seems to want to extort more from them.

 

https://swimswam.com/fina-suspends-mexican-federation-for-bailing-not-for-lying/

 

FINA is seen by aquatics fans right now as about as honest and trustworthy as the IAAF and FIFA so I tend to be on Mexico's side in the conflict. And I'm glad to see they've found a way to not impact the athletes as the two sides sort out a way to get Mexico's squads back on track for Olympic appearances.

[SophiaD]

Much more competitive women's CONCACAF final today.  The officiating was awful and the USA was definitely missing Rapinoe.  Canada is a tough team, although I continue to detest Melissa Tancredi.  It also got somewhat sloppy at the end.

 

Wonder how much longer Sinclair will be playing?  It seems as though she's been around forever, although she's only 32.

Edited February 22, 2016 by SophiaD

[Elsydeon]

Much more competitive women's CONCACAF final today.  The officiating was awful and the USA was definitely missing Rapinoe.  Canada is a tough team, although I continue to detest Melissa Tancredi.  It also got somewhat sloppy at the end.

 

Wonder how much longer Sinclair will be playing?  It seems as though she's been around forever, although she's only 32.

 

I'm often reluctant to talk about Tancredi, because I am still not over her actions during and after the 2012 semifinal. Although I still can't figure out how on earth she scissor-kicked Lloyd down in the box, yet Lloyd is the one who got called for a foul. Once again Tancredi gets away with blatant assault on Lloyd with no punishment.

 

Can we talk about lil' Pugh-Pugh? I told myself I wouldn't jump on the hype train, knowing how many times we've seen a player hyped up at a young age only for that player to flame out. But that could change soon. If she has a decent performance in the upcoming 4 Nations Tournament (I refuse to call it by the name US Soccer gave it), then I will be on the train.

 

I don't know how I feel about Ellis messing with the DoD, as that was the team's strength for most of the WC. It seems a bit silly to try and fix what's not broken. My one thought is that Ellis thinks O'Hara is better at getting forward and providing service than Krieger is. O'Hara had a decent qualifying tournament, and she's not unfamiliar with the OB position. We'll see how it plays out at the 4NT.

 

Sinclair has said she wants to play through the next WC. I'm not sure she'll hold up until then. She hasn't exactly been in top form the last couple years, and Herdman acted very irresponsibly by playing her in what was a mostly meaningless game when she wasn't 100%.

[SophiaD]

This is only tangentially related to current Olympians, but I am so delighted that Amy Van Dyken was calling the PAC-12 swimming championships. I haven't heard how she's doing, but it's great to see her back on the air.  (And she's good at color commentary, too).

[selkie]

IOC establishes the 'Team Refugee Olympic Athletes'

 

http://www.swimvortex.com/team-of-refugee-olympic-athletes-roa-created-by-the-ioc-for-rio-olympic-games/

 

 

“By welcoming the team of Refugee Olympic Athletes to the Olympic Games Rio 2016, we want to send a message of hope for all refugees in our world,” said IOC President Thomas Bach. “Having no national team to belong to, having no flag to march behind, having no national anthem to be played, these refugee athletes will be welcomed to the Olympic Games with the Olympic flag and with the Olympic Anthem. They will have a home together with all the other 11,000 athletes from 206 National Olympic Committees in the Olympic Village.”

[ketchuplover]

Refugee Olympic Athletes FTW!

[legaleagle53]

I love it.  The last time the IOC did something like this was in 1992 after the breakup of the Soviet Union.  Remember the Unified Teams in both Albertville (winter) and Barcelona (Summer)?

[xaxat]

Yay! My track and field crush Allyson Felix is featured in one of the NBC promos!

[selkie]

If anyone's in the mood for a happy fluffy read, I'll offer up this one on Team Eaton- the current supercouple of world athletics:

 

http://www.3wiresports.com/2016/03/19/team-eaton-all-that-is-good-in-track-and-field/

[selkie]

A training camp for Team Refugee

 

http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/sports/2016/03/31/refugees-run-rio-olympic-dream-team/

[xaxat]

Failure to sell Olympic seats is Brazil's big ticket headache
 

With worries about the Zika virus, high crime and a major political crisis already overshadowing the August 5 opening ceremony, Brazil now faces the embarrassing prospect of empty stadiums.

Only 50 percent of tickets to the Olympics have sold so far, Rio 2016 organizing committee spokesman Phil Wilkinson told AFP on Saturday. For the Paralympics, which follow the main Games, the figure is far worse: just 12 percent.

 

It has not been a good lead up to the Olympics for Brazil. Zika, a bad economy, the President may be impeached because of a massive corruption scandal. . . 

[legaleagle53]

Wow.  When the BOC apparently can't even give tickets to the Olympic and Paralympic events away, that's just pathetic.

[Mittengirl]

I think the IOC was so set on giving the 2016 Games to a South American country that they were too willing to overlook some danger signs. Zika not withstanding, the issues they are facing should come as a surprise to absolutely no one. But I guess we have to wait a few more months to see how it all plays out.

[xaxat]

The Brazilian Senate has voted to start the impeachment process against the President. The trial could last through the Olympics.

[Ohwell]

But you know, as bad as things are, the Olympics will probably go off without a major hitch.  That seems to be the case in all the Olympics where it was predicted that bad stuff would happen and it would be disastrous.  Greece immediately comes to mind but I'm sure there were others.  

Edited May 12, 2016 by Ohwell

[selkie]

And Russia's attempt to get their track team's suspension from international competition lifted seems to have taken a hit as their news sources are saying that 10 of the 31 samples dinged during retesting from the 2008 Olympics were Russian track and field athletes.

http://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1037750/russia-could-lose-nine-beijing-2008-olympic-medals-after-retests-of-doping-samples

If the list verifies, and  IOC/IAAF follow usual procedure, that would reassign the gold medal in the women's 4x100 relay to:

 

drumroll...

 

Belgium. Granted, any relay with one of the Bourlee siblings (in this case Olivia) is going to be above average by European standards, but event  this was kind of the Summer Games equivalent of the Australian speedskater who won winter gold when his competition crashed out on the last two laps-more touted France, Trinidad, and USA botched their prelims runs and DQed there, and half the field, including the well-regarded Jamaica and UK couldn't get the baton around in the finals, and Nigeria slightly underperformed at the wrong time, leaving Belgium originally in the silver slot. If Chermoshanskaya's positive invalidates the Russian results, the IAAF, in typical fashion, will probably end up doing a 'reallocation' of medals in a year or two once CAS appeals are completed.

Edited May 25, 2016 by selkie