It’s official.
Toronto will make a bid to host the 2026 Summer Olympics.
How can I help make this not happen?
First, I assume you mean the 2024 Olympics - 2026 is winter.
Start a rumor that USA is going to annex Ontario “if it agrees to take Quebec off of Canada’s hands as well.” (USA will then give Quebec its independence “as a favor to France in exchange for the Louisiana Purchase.”) I am under the impression that the “anywhere but USA” mentality is still strong within the IOC for some reason.
Then again, I don’t think you have to worry too much; I doubt the IOC would go three summer Olympics in a row outside of Europe (2016 is South America; 2020 is Asia).
I love the idea of Toronto bidding for the Olympics. I don’t love the idea of them winning, but I love the idea of them bidding. Check that, I especially like the idea of the city bidding, if they are going to lose.
Serious question… how honest are these games? I’ve mentioned at least a few times that the main reason I could never take the Olympics seriously was that until 1996, corruption was naked and rampant, and everyone was expected to shut up and ignore it, AND NEVER EVER EVER QUESTION THE VALIDITY OF THE OLYMPICS AS A SPORT FOR EVEN A MICROSECOND.
Or how about the 2002 World Cup. Korea gets a gift pass to the semis after some of the most horrific calls I’ve seen in my life (and believe me, I’m not the kind of guy who watches for these things), very nearly steals the whole thing…remember, Brazil just barely beat them…and from beginning to end, all the talk about is how wonderful and joyous and fun and free and delightful and happy everything is, and anyone who has a problem with the OUTRIGHT ROBBERY on display should go jump in a lake. (It’s gotten a little better since, but you still regularly see some complete howlers, like that England goal that was disallowed.)
That…I…I can’t go on like this. I’m old and cynical. The last thing I need now is to get emotionally involved with yet another honest-looking event that turns out to be a brazen fraud. It was bad enough when it was reality TV, dammit.
That Don Guy - Y’know what, at this point, I can’t even be bothered to complain anymore. The Cold War era Olympics were astoundingly corrupt, and if you were an athlete in that time, that was just something you had to accept. (Don’t even get me started on the Winter programs. Brr.) At least there don’t seem to be many commentators who think these medals mean anything.
As far as medal tallies go, tell me, what is wrong with a points system? 3-2-1 or 4-2-1 seem perfectly sensible to me. Besides, since when have the Olympics adopted this second-place-is-the-first-loser nonsense? Remember that commercial that said “You don’t win the silver, you lose the gold”? Blasted to cinders almost the instant it came out, pulled, nothing like it ever sees the day again. IMO, the real problem is that events that are judged (e.g. gymnastics, boxing) or minor variations of essentially the same discipline (e.g. all the swimming strokes/distances, 100m/200m/400m dash) receive the same awards as legitimate events. Don’t get rid of those events, just give something different…say, ribbons or wreaths for judged events and pins, studs…whatever, something small for the piecemeal events.
Of course, given that America finished first by all metrics not too long ago (and will resume doing so as soon as the endless parade of Olympiads being given to godforsaken third world dictatorships comes to an end) this whole debate has a locking-the-barn-door-after-the-horse-has-bolted quality to it.
…wait, what were we talking about again? Dangit, I’m not that old! 
Honest in what way? Most of the events themselves are honest, although boxing didn’t do itself any favors by shifting to a professional-style judging system.
Among other things, who made the decision that fourth place is no better than last?
Pretty much from 776 BCE to around 1924, during which the only awards were to winners.
If coming in second mattered that much, then the Minnesota Vikings and Buffalo Bills would be NFL dynasties rather than being called choke artists.
This would end up turning half of the events into the equivalent of the “Creative Arts” categories at the Emmys. Never mind that this is how it works now, at least as far as NBC (and ABC before it - I don’t remember CBS airing a summer Olympics) is concerned.
However, you’re right in that a country that wins a lot of swimming medals should not be treated much higher than a country that wins a medal in a team event because of it.