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Originally Posted by The_Jazz
dlish - all I've heard is that Haile isn't going, but that's all from the rumor mill. I haven't seen the Ethopian competitor lists yet, so he might surprise us. I hope so too, considering that he's been my favorite track star for about 15 years.
I hope that I was clear that I think that Dubai isn't capable of hosting the Winter Games. It's possible they could do it in the summer, but I am sure that the Selection Committee wants to see them host some world-class events first. If they can get the 2015 or 2017 athletics World Championship, that would go a long way. Or a World Cup or something that's going to prove that they can handle the bigger stage. I know that there have been a few competitions there, but Dubai needs to demonstrate that they're as good as their reputation.
Interestingly, I think that Dubai's biggest negative is Chicago's biggest positive in getting the Games - the environment. The Selection Committee is very European, and they've bought into global warming bigtime. The Chicago Committee thinks that they can pull this off either as a carbon neutral event or as a carbon negative, where they sequester more carbon than they can use. They're talking about melding together some technologies (like biodeisel backup generators) to pull it off. Without that kind of technology, places like Dubai are going to have a very hard time successfully bidding for future Games.
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while Haile wasnt my favourite track athlete, he's up there. ive always like the nth africans, the aouitas the morcellis and the el guerroujs. Haile though would be remembered greater than all 3 though because his running was so versatile. hes won distances at major championships from 2000m all the way through to the marathon. i really do hope that he runs. i do know that ethiopia has put pressure on him at previous events, so i do hope he is training just in case he changes his mind.
as far as dubai is concerened, they are far from ready to hold the olmpics soon, 2020 may even be out of the question. there is talk that they are aiming for 2020 in the hope of getting 2024.
in saying that, they will need outside help to achieve this. i'm not sure if people realise but only about 10% of the population here is local emirati arabs. the rest are expats. so in order for dubai to organise something of this magnitude, their money is going to have to go a long way to get outside contractors to get the show on the road . at the end of the day the olympic commitee wont be looking purely at money. The key is planning and organisation. whilst dubai is relatively young in terms of being a city, it does have big ambitions, and maybe just maybe they may be ready in a few olympics time.
as for the winter olympics, i personally dont see it happening. i dont think the UAE would be interested in bidding for it. venues would turn into a white elephant and would eventually get demolished..thats the cold hard facts of dubai - if its not working or if we can build something else there, just knock it down and build something else. at the moment ski dubai - the current 300m run is more than sufficient for the city.
as for dubai holding major championships, dubai sports city is planning to hold 6 major championships from 6 sports every year
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Dubai Sports City unveiled its strategy to bring a share of the global sports business market to the UAE.
Speaking to the Dubai International Sports Conference 2007, Malcolm Thorpe, Marketing Director, Sports Business, Dubai Sports City, explained, 'Our commercial strategy looks to support one major event in six core sports - football, rugby, cricket, hockey, golf and tennis - that will run every year in Dubai.
He said there would be a particular focus on the importance of developing 'flagship events', supported by a programme of local events and the daily activities at each of the sports academies, creating a year-round calendar of events.
Dubai Sports City will also collaborate on bids for major international sports competitions in cooperation with other sporting bodies.
This will drive the profile of the Dubai Sports City on the sporting stage and demonstrate the strength of its facilities and this positioning will have significant commercial value, particularly since the Group has a framework in place to effectively manage the rights for different events alongside the commercial rights for the whole of the Dubai Sports City development, including the stadia.
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currently we have the rugby world cup every year, we have the dubai tennis championships which i attended this year - which may be ATP approved, im not sure. we had the dubai marathon that haile ran and almost broke the world record this year. sadly i missed it cos i had my birthday party the night before and couldnt wake up in time to almost see history. we have some world cricket played here. but i have to agree that dubai needs a marquis event to show what they are capable of.
as far as an environmentally friendly games, id agree that chicago does have one up on dubai. the UAE is one of the most ungreen countries in the world. they were voted amonst the most wasteful nations per capita so they really do need to figure this part out quite quickly. with the interest in 'green' these days, it would make things harder for dubai.
however, the mid east has never had an olympics before, and the US has had 84, 96 and maybe another one is 2014? so in that sense it may tip the scales away from chhe icago in order to diversify the selection.
highthief - id have to agree with jazz on the fact that it be terrible for athletes to compete at crazy hours of the mornings, whilst we sippped on our cherry sodas and have the networks make a squillionout of us. i for one would get up at anytime to make sure that i get to see the events that i want - namely the womens high jump
couldnt miss that for the world
..and the women pole vault
jorge - i dont think we are indicting the chinese people. its just an overall sense that this wont be a games that is going to be quite successful. i honestly deep down hope that it is successful. id hate to look back in 20 years time and say i watched the worst olympics in history. thats a blight on everyone.
quasi - for some reason or other, and i dont know why i feel this (maybe cos im always rooting for underdogs) but im hoping the USA mens bball team get beat. i know i may sound hypocritical cos i follow the nba, but there is a lot of ego and self gloating and glorification going on in the nba. its bad enough have a few individuals, but if you get a dozen of them on a side - god forbid.