In case you haven’t heard yet, the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi beat Pyeongchang to win the bid to host the 2012 Winter Olympic Games. Which means we get to hold the Winter Games in a town with palm trees where winter temperatures rarely fall below freezing.
Did you know Sochi is a sister city of Espoo, the “Los Angeles of Finland”? Neither did I.
Yonhap News (Korean), meanwhile, wonders whether Incheon and Daegu’s success at winning major international sporting bids may have proved harmful to Pyeongchang’s Olympic dreams.
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It is odd indeed that Sochi would get the nod for the games. Its weather is best compared to Los Angeles.
When I read “Putin” and “Black Sea” together in a sentence, “Odessa” and “Russian mafia” are not far behind in my mind, in terms of word association.
Yes, Sochi has very warm weather . . .
Well, that’s a weird decision. Some netizens say that Vancouver bribed the IOC for the games (sore losers…Vancouver’s got so much more going for it than Pyeongchang, like a nearby international airport, two world-class ski resorts, well developed infrastructure, plenty of hotels, etc, etc, etc). So, how are they going to explain this one? I certainly can’t.
“Yonhap News (Korean), meanwhile, wonders whether Incheon and Daegu’s success at winning major international sporting bids may have proved harmful to Pyeongchang’s Olympic dreams.”
Probably. That and the fact that most games played in Korea during the 2002 World Cup were played in half-empty stadiums.
I wonder if Putin used KGB like tactics to conjure up votes for Sochi?
Now with the great 2014 Winter Games selection behind us, the main question is will Pyeongchang try out for the 2018 games, thus trying to prove that the third time’s a charm? Or throw in the towel?
And after so many churches led in prayer of a successful Pyeongchang bid? Surely, there is no god.
Maybe Putin bribed the IOC voters by promising not to point his missiles at Guatemala City.
Bribing to the get Olympics is an old trick. I suspect that Korea, Inc. just got out-bribed this time around.
Even the Mormons bribed folks to get the games - shows how corrupting the Olympics are. Long live Roy Jones! Sic semper tyrannis!
I’m not surprised. I actually agree with the fact that with Korea already securing the Asian Games and the Universiade in Taegu, that 3 major athletics competitions in one country is too much.
Plus, I don’t think Busan is too disapointed, as if anything, with their bid for the 2020 summer games, they would have had no shot if Pyeongchang won. Now, their chances just went up.
Bribe men,bribe is the secret for the olympics.
Puchin has oil. Anyway, maybe not that bad too lose against Russia. Better to have a clean image rather than later, to be exposed of bribes.
I’m not upset about this news, but, as a serious Formula 1 fan, I will get mad if South Korea will fail to host Formula 1 in 2010:
http://www.motorauthority.com/.....from-2010/
Not to highjack the thread but in regards to hosting an F1 race in Korea, they have been trying to bring the sport into the country for years now and got “sort of close” in 2005 - not in terms of simply hosting a race but in terms of actually constructing a sustainable F1 circuit/business in Korea.
Anyway, in regards to the case I am familiar with, lots of things complicated it and I read some complaints about Korea’s ban on tobacco advertising…since tobacco companies have been known to sponsor such events or something like that.
I could talk more about this later in a more appropriate thread…just found F1 the link interesting/surprising, that’s all. I agree, it’d be great for Korea if it worked out with F1 but it’s always run into problems in the past…
“Probably. That and the fact that most games played in Korea during the 2002 World Cup were played in half-empty stadiums.”
I went and saw Spain and Slovenia play in Gwangju in 2002. Maybe around 25 000 in a 42 000 seat venue. In what I suspect was contrary to official FIFA ticketing policy, there were lots of blue collar employees of a certain construction company papering the 1st class section. Overall, for the most part, if a game didn’t involve Korea, most people here didn’t seem to care all that much. I can appreciate the fact that people were excited about the Korean team - so was I - but a lot of great players and teams were largely ignored.
“Vancouver’s got so much more going for it than Pyeongchang, like a nearby international airport, two world-class ski resorts, well developed infrastructure, plenty of hotels, etc, etc, etc”
Exactly. Throw in a 60 000 seat dome stadium (BC Place) for opening/closing ceremonies, two 17 000 + capacity arenas (GM Place and Pacific Coliseum, for hockey and figure skating respectively), and a genuine cosmopolitan vibe and it gives one an idea of how far removed Pyeongchang was from Vancouver.
I would have picked Pyeongchang over Sochi, and I don’t blame Koreans for being unhappy about the vote. Sometimes you get outbribed - ooops, I mean outbid. Plus, Korea having gotten a bunch of other events certainly didn’t help the cause.
Too bad Salzburg ran such a crappy bid. It would have been a great place to see the Olympics. Beautiful natural scenery, nice architecture, excellent beer…
Summer Games in Pusan, now that would be something.
I can see Putin reminding large swathes of Europe that it would be better watching the Sochi 2014 Games in “comfortable, heated homes”, rather than say, watching Pyeongchang 2014 in, ahem, “well, need I say more?”
Sadly and scarily, Putin is already trumpeting this as “a judgement on our country”. For all we know, this thug may still be Russia’s president in 2014.
“PyeongChang” - gotta change that name. It’s just butt ugly. The majority of IOC members probably had no idea how to even pronounce it. Perhaps with a different name they could have won. But what do I know…
Now with the great 2014 Winter Games selection behind us, the main question is will Pyeongchang try out for the 2018 games, thus trying to prove that the third time’s a charm?
Yes, they will.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.c.....ef=si_more
“The government of Gangwon province, to which Pyeongchang belongs, said it made the decision because it needs a “growth engine” for the province, and it expects unspecified “more favorable conditions” in the next bid.”
Putin is already trumpeting this as “a judgement on our country”. For all we know, this thug may still be Russia’s president in 2014.
He may be trying to do that:
http://www.npr.org/templates/s.....d=15027396
Here’s something on Sochi residents’ divided attitudes toward the games:
http://www.latimes.com/news/na.....ines-world
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Olympic Losers…
Pyeongchang is a two-timer loser. Even with the cheesy name change (may “PyeongChang die a quiet linguistic death), Pyeongchang lost in a good fight to the Russian Black Sea resort at Sochi. Robert Koehler, quoting Yonhap, speculates that “…