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Good points Scarberian. As a minor point Rogge did call on "the youth of the world" to meet in four years. I think that phrase is a stock one at these ceremonies. And if Furlong really can't handle French, he should not have tried. Get the networks to provide a translation voiceover.

Funding ... agree completely. The govt. did announce in the throne speech a couple of days after the closing cermony that there would be continued funding, but I am not aware of details.

It's not valid for the TV commentators to work out "dollars per medal", as so many things affect medals. It would have been interesting to see standings taking into account not only medals, but 4th and 5th place finishes as well. Many of those are only fractions of a second behind the medal winners.
 
It took Patrice Bergeron this long to open his bag and see he had Sid's glove in there? I used to always make my kid open his bag and air out his equipment ASAP.
 
I agree that Toronto has a real chance in 2020. While the protestors no doubt turned people off at the start, I think their minority status became rapidly obvious and they promptly faded into the background (other than in British press coverage). There aren't that many serious cities considering a bid. Cape Town will be a front-runner depending on how this year's World Cup turns out, but I agree that two "risky" cities in a row might be too much for the IOC. Dubai's also apparently considering a bid but their recent financial troubles will surely be a hindrance, as will the climate that did in Doha for 2016. Tokyo's another possibility but it seems sort of like those Paris bids: I doubt it would do that much for the city since it's already so developed anyway. Rome also wants to bid but it might be too soon for another European city. Italy's financial problems might also be a side issue but those may well have faded into the background by the time the games are awarded. Madrid could be another serious contender as they share a history of failed bids with Toronto. It just depends if the IOC wants to go back to Europe. And then there's Dallas.

2024 is also an option. Toronto's the only serious North American contender for 2020, so it will have been a very long time since Atlanta.
 
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It would be awesome if Toronto got to host the Olympics as well because obviously we need a lot of new infrastructure here.

But realistically would we be able to win? It would only have been 10 years since Vancouver. But I guess we bid for the 1996 games which were 8 years after Calgary.
 
It's hard to know how much control the IOC actually has over the voting process. It can set the short list of bid cities but how much persuasion/corruption/intimidation actually goes on to make sure city X gets more votes than city Y or that country Z moves its vote(s) from one to the other after each round of voting? The IOC sees risk differently than the general media and would love to bring the games to Africa. Munich and Atlanta weren't seen as risky but look what happened. Beijing ended up just fine despite much fear-mongering about human rights crackdowns and air pollution. London could have problems with protests or terrorism or traffic or there could be a huge doping scandal or a natural disaster or anything that mars the games. The IOC tries to stay relevant, to keep the games politically sustainable, and to keep its reputation solid, and one way to do this is to push bid cities/nations that are actually excited about hosting an Olympics and not just excited about the prestige or the development money that flows their way. The IOC doesn't really care if cities go bankrupt hosting the Olympics. Cape Town 2020 would probably be better for Olympism than Toronto 2020 and the IOC would take that 'risk' if the selection process was as simple as anointing one city - but it's not that simple. Good bids still go a long way and Toronto can prepare incredible bids (as long as we don't plaster the entire city in condos first). Still, Toronto could very, very easily be a city that comes away in 2013 or 2017 having narrowly missed out for political reasons (again) despite emphasizing sports and celebration and warm fuzzies in its bid. The vote coming only 3 years after Vancouver shouldn't be an insurmountable problem.
 
Remember when the British mocked our Olympics and the mascots.
"Just wait", we said, "until your turn."

Well, let the mocking begin.

The-2012-Olympic-and-Para-005.jpg
 
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Is the blue thing wearing crotchless pants?
 
First a logo featuring Lisa Simpson going down on a guy, now "one-eyed monsters"... London's games seem to be a series of Freudian slips.

Seriously though, I don't understand the branding behind these games. They're unlike anything we've ever seen before. It's like the people in charge of branding came up with a "worst proposal wins" contest.
 
Didn't their original TV commercial end up having a warning because it caused seizures or something? I think there's a point that "spirit of the games" hits a singularity and ends up having absolutely no context in the real world.
Vancouver was great. We really nailed that spirit of the games part. I'll reserve my judgement for London, but initial inspection is looking very iffy.

syn said:
First the logo now these odd mascots. What's going on in London?
Click to expand...
Roman-era lead water pipes :p
 
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