GameBanshee Forums

The final four cities still in the running for the 2008 Olympics are: Paris, Toronto, Istanbul, and... Beijing. Beijing! The site of the Tiananmen Suqare massacre! What planet did Samaranch come from? Isn't he aware of China's deplorable human rights record? It's second to Afghanistan! Is there no standard for an effectual Olympic bid other than the largess of the bribe a particular host country contributes to the IOC coffers? Hopefully not. Unfortunately, all signs point to a Beijing win. Samaranch will make the announcement this Friday. I hope I'm wrong.

I have seen this debate>>>>

Paris, Toronto have already hosted an one.

Istanbul has a terrorist problem. (Kurds)

Beijing have a bad human rights record.


These are some of the things I've seen about this.

I personally don't care where it's held.

Um actually, I'm fairly certain that Toronto has never hosted the Olympics. Do you mean Montreal Weasel?

Originally posted by dragon wench:
<STRONG>Um actually, I'm fairly certain that Toronto has never hosted the Olympics. Do you mean Montreal Weasel? </STRONG>

It could be, I just read this off of a debate about which country should or shouldn't and these were the reasons stated there.

I figure that they should just hold the damn games somewhere in Greece on a permanent basis, it would help to stop the bickering. Although, maybe that would just conjure up an entirely new can of worms........

Originally posted by dragon wench:
<STRONG>I figure that they should just hold the damn games somewhere in Greece on a permanent basis, it would help to stop the bickering. Although, maybe that would just conjure up an entirely new can of worms........</STRONG>

I agree on both points. If you want I will PM you the link to the discuss. I haven't read it in a while might be something new there. (I quit reading it..someone from Greece and another from Turkey had started on each other)

I want Paris, so I can watch the olypics without getting up at night

No really, I don't belive it would be good to place the Olypics in Istanbul due to the high risk of terrorist attack.

Placing it in Bejing would IMO not be good either, because I'm affraid it would be used as propaganda by the Chinise goverment.
E.i. they would state that China isen't so bad, because they got the Oplympic Games.

Toronto has never hosted the Olympics, no. Osaka is actually still in the bidding too but the recent Nagano Olympics make them a distant underdog. Paris is also an underdog due to 2004 being in Europe, namely in Athens, and Istanbul is similarly screwed due to being just across the Aegean pond from Athens. Beijing is the favourite for merely political reasons, in that they've been bidding for ages and just barely missed out on the 2000 games to Sydney.

This issue is of great interest to me since I'm a Torontonian. I would cream my pants if Toronto won. We deserve it. The venue will be the most compact and centrally located site ever, right smack in downtown Toronto on the newly revamped waterfront, with all but half a dozen events being held within six square kilometres. Not to mention every country would have a good fan base; Toronto is the most ethnically diverse city on the planet with over 50% of the city's residents having been born outside of Canada. The Toronto delegation is pushing the bid as the one most in the interest of the athletes who won't go through the pain of being bused around the venues. Even rowing, for the first time, will be in the main location. Most of the site is already finished and the city has mustered 80,000 volunteers seven years in advance! I don't wanna sound like I'm actually plugging some cause (ugh I never do such things), but it'll be for nothing more than political reasons (or perhaps some heavy-duty bribing) that Beijing gets it. And if they don't there'll be hell to pay with China. Let's hope they don't anyway. Heh Go Toronto! *oh man*

The Games have become so much of a commercial business (beach volleyball? come on!) that I've pretty much lost interest in 'em. On the other hand, I have considerable interest in how the world treats the perpetrators of the Tianamen Massacre and the destruction of Tibet.

Please. . .the Olympics transcend governments. Sure the Chinese will use the event to display their best side (i.e., propaganda) covering-up their atrocious HR record, but IMO the modern Olympics are about showcasing different cultures.

Chinese athletes have excelled in the Olympic Games for a very long time -- there's nothing wrong with showcasing them in their homeland. China was a bastion of civilization long before the present communist government was in place.

Besides, anywhere's better than having it in Canada again

I'm right there with you Hermetic! Being just south of Toronoto (St. Catherines, and across the lake) I'm looking forward to having the Olympics just outside the door.

El Cid, I hope you don't have Montreal in your recent memory. Montreal is an old dying city. And Calgary doesn't count since the Winter Olympics suck. Heh

Yeah, the Montreal games were a real boon for Canada! Drugs! Boycotts! $2 Billion in Debt! Way to showcase Canada, eh?

Not that Salt Lake City is all that noble!

and i agree that the winter games bite.

El Cid: China may have a very old culture, but don't assume that it's 'civilized'. During the Han and Chou dynasties (please don't lynch me if I get the spelling wrong), peasants (~80-90% of the population) were not allowed access to anything made of metal, for fear that they would revolt.
During the rest of the dynastic period, the regimes remained oppressive. Whether it was the occasional book-burning and music-destroying purge, slave labor to build a fairly pointless wall, the Chinese government has never really been one that gave half a d*mn about its people.
Heck, I didn't even get into footbinding- now there's a crippled kettle of fish!

China wants to host the Olympics for pride and for PR. Hopefully, they think, all of that blissful media coverage of shallow, pointless drills by mollycoddled mental midgets will displace attention from such 'minor' things as disgusting human rights viewpoints (namely, there are none), their recently public policy to execute accused drug traffickers with a gun to the back of the head, their oppression of Tibet (which they're getting away with- nobody in the UN seems to have called them on it in, what? 20 years?), the nonexistent sanitation standards, and so on.

BTW, El Cid- don't take this as a personal attack. I'm just fairly ticked that the Olympics are seen as being more important than peoples' lives.

Well, today's the day the IOC will vote for the host city for the 2008 Olympics. I think it's between Toronto and Beijing. Canada is the UN's #1 place to live, and Toronto has never hosted an Olympic game. Giving the torch to China, on the other hand, appeals to those IOC officials who believe the Olympics will speed up the process of reforms that have been taking place in that country for the past couple decades. Canada's human rights record is stellar, while China's human rights record is condemned by the international community, especially supporters of Tibet. Keep your ear to the ground, folks. I think this decision is more important than most people realize.

Well, today's the day the IOC will vote for the host city for the 2008 Olympics. I think it's between Toronto and Beijing. Canada is the UN's #1 place to live, and Toronto has never hosted an Olympic game. Giving the torch to China, on the other hand, appeals to those IOC officials who believe the Olympics will speed up the process of reforms that have been taking place in that country for the past couple decades. Canada's human rights record is stellar, while China's human rights record is condemned by the international community, especially supporters of Tibet. Keep your ear to the ground, folks. I think this decision is more important than most people realize.

Gosh darnit! I hate it when I double post!

Oh well, more opportunity for spam!

Na na na nananana
Nananana

Hey Jude...

Na na na nananana
Nananana

Hey Jude...

I hope for montreal or osaka. I really don't like the idea of china with the olimpic games... Nothing against China, but i tihnk, like others i've seen, that they may use it for propaganda....

Well, it's official: Beijing got the Olympics. Big business won over one of the dirtiest human rights records in the world.

I completely agree with you Fable....