Olympics 2012, in Londontown

Think Tug of War would be awesome? How about another 1904 medal event: the Plunge for Distance?

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

 

Here's a story about London's use of temporary venues and how that could be the model for future Games. It also has some information on the possible future of the Olympic stadium. One thing I've wondered is whether there was ever any thought to using new Wembley in that capacity (if it would even work in that configuration).

http://news.yahoo.com/london-2012-signals-end-white-elephant-curse-060248867--sector.html

 

NHL players ain't going to the Olympics in the summer. They're golfing or chilling at their cottages.

 

If not for handball, old school olympics would utterly dominate modern.

 

That's what I was saying earlier, if the track stays then it's a terrible venue for soccer. Some of the stadiums in Italy are multipurpose with tracks, and it looks bad for the fans. The London stadium seemed even more detached between seats and grass. If it has to host the World Championships, obviously they can't get rid of it. Even if they weren't, it doesn't seem too cost effective to basically rebuild the stadium to suit a permanent resident. None of the three clubs need an 80,000 seater. I don't know why Spurs would be trying to mover from North to West London anyway.

 

Yes, definitely all around more upscale -- Ruth's Chris, Legal Seafood.

Ahhh, the Omni in Atlanta -- bring on Magnum TA vs. the Nature Boy.

 

After the bombing, the primary complaint about the Atlanta Games from sportswriters, international sports officials and yes, athletes, was internal transportation. The bus system used to ferry people around from venue to venue was chaotic in the first few days of the event and improved to inadequate thereafter. It wasn't the traffic. As a for instance, a very nice volunteer actually gave me and a reporter from Brazil a lift to the beach volleyball venue on its first day as an Olympic event because the bus had disappeared (driver hopelessly lost).
That's not a minor matter if deadlines or infinitely worse, getting DQ'd is on the horizon.
On the plus side, the venues themselves were extremely well organized and very spectator-friendly. I certainly wouldn't call the Atlanta Games anything close to a failure. I had a great time. But they had issues.

 

The area where Centennial Park is -- adjacent to the Georgia Dome and what is now Philips Arena -- has definitely been revitalized. The area around the Olympic Stadium/Turner Field, which is a couple miles away, got a facelift before the games, but it's really not much different as far as I can tell.

That'd be Bobby Dodd Stadiium

 

They had the temerity to suggest that this was a bad thing?

 

It will get turned into a soccer stadium, because there just really isn't much else you can DO with a stadium of that size in England. No one needs a rugby ground, so that's out.

And it will suck out loud as a soccer venue, because of the running track, which isn't going anywhere.

Spurs getting it, by the way, makes no sense, given that Spurs are a north London team and that stadium ain't anywhere near north London. I have yet to see an actual compelling argument for why West Ham getting a bigger ground is a threat to Leyton Orient, other than Leyton Orient's chairman being a dick.

 

My wife and I spent one full day at the Atlanta games -- we saw parts of the decathlon in the morning, then the women's field hockey bronze and gold medal matches that night -- and wound up having to kill the afternoon downtown. I remember seeing what was obviously an official bus (I suspect it was a media bus) heading off for somewhere ... with one passenger in it. Mind you, this was one of the big ones, too. So, yes, I can see how that would be symptomatic of troubles in the transportation system.

 

I must admit, I'd go watch rowing if I thought there was a chance a couple of competitors were going to eaten by alligators.