[mr.x]

http://www.judowiki.info/cache/220px-Chicago_Olympics_2016.jpghttp://www.masatakaya.com/engblog/images/tokyo2016_logo-thumb.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9a/Madrid_2016_Olympic_Bid_logo.jpg/200px-Madrid_2016_Olympic_Bid_logo.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/04/LogoRio2016.jpg/200px-LogoRio2016.jpg


Four cities chosen as 2016 Games candidates

Karolos Grohmann, Reuters
Published: Wednesday, June 04, 2008

ATHENS, June 4 (Reuters) - Chicago, Tokyo, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro were named on Wednesday as candidate cities to host the 2016 Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said.

Qatar's Doha, which was rated by the IOC's working group as the third best overall bid, Azerbaijan's Baku and the Czech capital Prague fell at the first hurdle.

"All the bids were of a very high standard," said IOC President Jacques Rogge.

"It is a tribute to the health of the Olympic movement that the field was so strong. I congratulate the candidate cities and I hope that those cities which were unsuccessful this time have benefited from the process."

The candidate cities must now compile an in-depth file of their Olympic project and submit themselves to a visit by the IOC's Evaluation Commission. The election of the host city will take place on Oct. 2, 2009, at the IOC Session in Copenhagen.

"We wanted to make the next phase and we made a good bid but it is always a relief to hear your name read out," U.S. IOC member Bob Ctvrtlik, who was with the Chicago bid, told Reuters.

Tokyo, hosts of the 1964 Games, topped the IOC working group's overall technical evaluation with Madrid second. Chicago and Doha tied for third with Rio in fourth place, the report said.

"We are delighted with the evaluation but we have not seen it yet and we must now analyse it very carefully to strengthen our weak points and make our strong points stronger," Tokyo bid chief Ichiro Kono told Reuters.

DOHA DIVIDE

IOC executive board members, who picked the candidate cities, had been divided for weeks whether Doha should be included in the shortlist.

Some members argued the city of about 500,000 was too small to deal with an event of such magnitude despite staging successful Asian Games in 2006.

Doha also planned to stage the Games in October instead of the usual summer months, due to the soaring desert heat.

"The weather was the main reason we were left off the shortlist," Doha bid official Aneesa Al Hitimi told Reuters.

An IOC official said the decision for the shortlist was unanimous among the 14 Executive Board members and Rogge, despite a 30-minute delay in the announcement that momentarily raised questions about whether there was a consensus.

IOC Communications Director Giselle Davies said Doha's decision to plan for Games in October had been a major drawback.

"The IOC Executive Board unanimously decided not to grant this exception as it conflicts with the international sporting calendar and would therefore be bad for the athletes and for sports fans," Davies said.

"Does this mean Doha or another country from the Middle East could never host the Olympic Games? No, not necessarily, especially given the IOC's desire to see the Games held around the world," she added.

The decision sparked wild celebrations among Chicago bid officials gathered at a downtown Chicago office with their cheers drowning out the other shortlisted cities.

(Additional reporting by Barney Spender in Athens, Ben Klayman in Chicago)

(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by John Mehaffey)

[Rusty Gull]

Without knowing anything about the strength of the four bids, my heart -- and my gut -- says Rio.

[flight_from_kamakura]

^ mine too. with europe and asia will be out of the running for 2016 (because of china and london), it'll be between chicago and rio. why rio will probably win: the time zone works for the american market, south america is due an olympics, rio is a cool city with a lot of "offer" visiting ioc members over the coming months, if possible the brazilian government will probably buy the win, they have most of the facilities already built and, most of all, it's an exciting story line that the media-sensitive ioc types will find appealing.

hitches: european and asian delegates may want to join the americans in sending the games over to chicago, so that europe or asia can compete in 2020; rio may not be ready to host the games; and tokyo will probably spend absolutely anything necessary to secure the games (splitting the vote and hardening positions).

[deasine]

I don't know I actually want Chicago to win this one or Tokyo =P

I added a poll to this thread, if you don't mind Mr. X. Just curious to see what others think. Rusty Gull and Flight From Kamakura, please cast your vote =)

[Yume-sama]

As a city, it would do perhaps the most for Chicago. I have a feeling Rio could get it, though, so they can show the South Americans some love :P I will be routing for Tokyo. No city in the World could be more prepared to deal with a ton of people than them. Plus, I want the Shinkansen extensions to be done faster... and the possible maglev between Tokyo and Osaka to come to life... and another runway at Narita, and a faster Narita Express in to Tokyo. All of it probably depends on the Olympics being rewarded for it to be done sooner than later. Plus their plans are very impressive, and superbly environmentally friendly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_2016_Olympic_bid

[mr.x]

I personally want Rio to win as well....preferences:
1) Rio
2) Tokyo
3) Madrid
4) Chicago
....for one thing, the Games have never been to South America and Rio is sure as hell one sexy city to host them in. Also, it still keeps a Toronto bid open for the near future.....a Chicago bid would kill Toronto's Olympic dreams for several decades.



Who will likely win, imo:
1) Chicago/Tokyo
2) Tokyo/Chicago
3) Rio
4) Madrid



It's interesting to mention that Leipzig, Germany did not make it to the 2012 shortlist because it was too small. City and metro, Leipzig only has a population of 500,000. Same goes with Doha 2016, which only has a population of 600,000.

If Vancouver didn't bid for 2010 and bid for 2016 instead, I wonder if we would have made it to the shortlist. The full list of 2016 applicant cities (bolded are cities that made the shortlist):
- Baku (Azerbaijan)
- Chicago
- Doha
- Madrid
- Prague
- Rio
- Tokyo

[bbeliko]

IT's between Rio, Chicago and Tokyo, London already killed madrids bid.
Then Tokyo already hosted the games, but that was a long time ago.
I would love the games to be in Rio, i was there for the Panamerican games, and the level of organization was on par with what we've seen on recent games

[Rusty Gull]

I will be routing for Tokyo. No city in the World could be more prepared to deal with a ton of people than them. Plus, I want the Shinkansen extensions to be done faster... and the possible maglev between Tokyo and Osaka to come to life...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_2016_Olympic_bid

The Tokyo-Osaka Maglev is already being planned, so I wouldn't worry about the Olympic impact. JR is moving forward very aggressively. It will be the ultimate Skyscraper Page topic, as it will become the world's most expensive all-time infrastructure project. :happypunk:

[CCF]

Interesting to see Baku on the list. Not a city I would have ever envisioned hosting the Olympics.

[excel]

i want chicago.

[sacrifice333]

Makes sense to me that Rio would have a really good shot at it.

Games have never been in South America. (Closest was Mexico in 1968)

Games are in Asia this year, 2008, so seems that Tokyo in 2016 wouldn't make much political sense.

Spain has had games fairly recently, 1992, so Madrid would seem out of the question.

The US also just had the games in 1996 and since Vancouver has 2010 I don't think it would make political sense to give North America 2016 as well.

I'd think if Rio puts together a bid that's even near the level of the other cities they'd get the games for sure.

[Yume-sama]

The Tokyo-Osaka Maglev is already being planned, so I wouldn't worry about the Olympic impact. JR is moving forward very aggressively. It will be the ultimate Skyscraper Page topic, as it will become the world's most expensive all-time infrastructure project. :happypunk:

It could be done sooner than 2025, though :yes:

[MolsonExport]

I go for Rio. And, why not add a new competition: hottest babes in bikinis. :D

[austin242]

Madrid all the way because it never hosted the olympics its a beautiful city and wonderful people.

[bugsy]

It would be wonderful to see the Olympics in Tokyo for 2016 :)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Tokyo_Olympics_2016.jpg

The Tokyo-Osaka Maglev is already being planned, so I wouldn't worry about the Olympic impact. JR is moving forward very aggressively. It will be the ultimate Skyscraper Page topic, as it will become the world's most expensive all-time infrastructure project. :happypunk:

JR Central to construct maglev Shinkansen on its own

JR Central announced on Dec. 25, 2007 that it will go ahead with a plan to construct maglev bullet train railway (Shinkansen) to run through the 290km distance between the Tokyo Metropolitan area and the Chukyo area centering on Nagoya on its own without government financial help. The total cost for the project, including land purchases, is estimated at 5.1 trillion yen. The new Shinkansen is scheduled to start operation in 2025. The company said it has decided to go it alone because no one could know when the government might make a move about the plan.

http://en.j-cast.com/2008/01/11015474.html

It could be done sooner than 2025, though :yes:

If only they could get some government pork to help them out :P

[jlousa]

Oh my god look at that roof ^^^^, it's so dirty, how could they even think about inviting 3 Billion people to look at that. How will they light the torch inside that??? Toyko should be ashamed.

Sorry I just had to. :)

[mr.x]

actually, Tokyo Dome's roof is extremely clean. It's just the lighting in that picture.

[twoNeurons]

It would be wonderful to see the Olympics in Tokyo for 2016 :)

JR Central to construct maglev Shinkansen on its own

JR Central announced on Dec. 25, 2007 that it will go ahead with a plan to construct maglev bullet train railway (Shinkansen) to run through the 290km distance between the Tokyo Metropolitan area and the Chukyo area centering on Nagoya on its own without government financial help. The total cost for the project, including land purchases, is estimated at 5.1 trillion yen. The new Shinkansen is scheduled to start operation in 2025. The company said it has decided to go it alone because no one could know when the government might make a move about the plan.

http://en.j-cast.com/2008/01/11015474.html



If only they could get some government pork to help them out :P

The Japanese economy is working its way out of a major recession. They're famous for massive government projects there because money is dirt cheap, with practically no interest and low taxation.

I don't think they'll get a lot of government help, but I'm no expert on Japanese politics. Remember, the original Shinkansen from Tokyo to Osaka paid itself off in just over year (something like that, at least). I would assume that JR Central plans to do the same thing. However, the mag-lev will only run from Nagoya to Tokyo by 2025... not connecting all the way to Japan's second-largest (Osaka).

Also, it will run through a lightly populated (by Japanese standards) area because of noise pollution... meaning there will be fewer stops and less people in the catchment area... meaning it will rely even more on the major endpoints.

[Mille Sabords]

Rio, all the way. Time for the games to go to South America. And Rio is an amazing city to host the games.

[Distill3d]

i voted Rio only because South America has never hosted an olympics, though Chicago would be my second choice.

Tokyo's already had the games in 1964, plus Nagano had the winter games in 1998.

as for Madrid (or anywhere in europe), Athens had the summer games in 2004, Torino had the winter games in 2006, London will have the summer games in 2012, and the Russian resort city of Sochi will host the 2014 winter games. hopefully the IOC will see that its time to not have the games in Europe. in fact 15 of the 30 modern summer olympics have been held in European cities. time to see the rest of the world.

[flight_from_kamakura]

i wonder how obama's win will affect chicago's campaign to host the olympics (it's his hometown). we know that in other countries, heads of state routinely make lobbying efforts, one wonders if obama would be so inclined. on the one hand, chicago is going through a massive financial crisis and the state of illinois is looking at massive budget cuts - two points that make chicago look even weaker. on the other hand, if there's a world leader who could single-handedly deliver the olympics to a city, it has to be obama. and what a legacy gift it would be to his city.

something to watch...

[Rusty Gull]

I agree. Chicago has gone from deserved long-shot to compelling dark-horse, and it's all due to Obama. Plus, by 2016, you have to figure the U.S. will be due for another Games.

[sacrifice333]

Obama, Shmobama... these games belong to Rio.

[mr.x]

Agreed. Besides presenting a very poor technical bid and geopolitical factors, there was a lot of anti-American sentiment during the whole 2012 host city selection process - resulting in NYC's defeat.

[bugsy]

TOKYO (Reuters) - Tokyo's bid officials insist they still have the edge in the race to host the 2016 Olympics despite Barack Obama's victory in the U.S. presidential election.

Obama's success has given his home city of Chicago a boost and Japanese media are already speculating that Tokyo's chances could be damaged as a result.

"I've seen the headlines but we have to remember we had the best technical evaluation from the IOC in June," Tokyo's 2016 bid communications manager Masanori Takaya told Reuters on Thursday.

"Every bid city has its own strengths and weaknesses -- Tokyo's is its technical plan. We are focusing all our efforts on further refining our bid."

Tokyo and Chicago face competition from Madrid and Rio de Janeiro in the race to stage the 2016 Olympics. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will select the winner in October 2009.

The Japanese capital, the first Asian city to host the Olympics in 1964, topped the IOC's overall technical evaluation in June with Madrid second.

"Despite who is elected as U.S. president we have to communicate to everyone we were evaluated as the best technically and we should be proud of that," said Takaya.

"But there is a lot to do in the remaining 11 months and we are still trying to improve. We're dedicating all our efforts on having the best possible candidate file."

Each of the four bidding cities must submit a candidature file by February 2009 before hosting an IOC evaluation visit the spring.

Takaya insisted Obama's landslide win in Tuesday's U.S. presidential election would not change the dynamic of the 2016 bidding process.

"I don't think it will," he said. "We just have to focus on our own bid. For the next 11 months that's our job."

Takaya added that sharp-shooting Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso could prove an even bigger asset to Tokyo's Olympic hopes than Obama does to Chicago's.

"Japan has a PM who was an Olympian," said Takaya, pointing to Aso's participation at the 1976 Montreal Olympics in shooting.

"Not many countries have an Olympian as a head of state."

http://ca.reuters.com/article/sportsNews/idCATRE4A52BR20081106?sp=true