Stop Giving Major Sporting Events to AWful or Incapable Countries

[Boyo_Jim]

Since I personally think the Olympics as become a hugely bloated commercial event that damages the economy of every country that hosts it …

… I think it’s time for a North Korean Olympics.

[JohnT]

@silenus

I wonder what will be the biggest disaster of these games: the rampant hacking/id theft, the terrorism, or the total lack of facilities?

You haven’t mentioned the poorly built sports venues which are causing some Olympians to withdraw from their events because of safety concerns.

[Terr]

@BrainGlutton

Why Sochi anyway? It’s the Russian Riviera, the place they go when they’re sick of freezing. If they’re going to have the Winter Olympics in Russia, why not someplace further north, like St. Petersburg or Moscow?

Anyone could do Winter Olympics in Moscow. Only Putin can do it in a summer resort on the Black Sea. Or can he?

[silenus]

@JohnT

You haven’t mentioned the poorly built sports venues which are causing some Olympians to withdraw from their events because of safety concerns.

I also didn’t mention the corruption or the canine massacres.

I’m also wondering what is going to be the excuse when events aren’t telecast because of total failure of infrastructure.

[Damuri_Ajashi]

@Really_Not_All_That_Bright

Hosting the Olympics benefits nobody but the politicians of the host countries/cities.

If we had the Olympics in the same place over and over again, it probably would be an economic boon. If they kept having the olympics at SLC and the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, those places would see huge economic development as a result. Its the one shot nature of Olympic events that makes it such a bad deal, isn’t it?

[Inigo_Montoya]

@Gangster_Octopus

Except we are literally days away and they are not done with the hotels, the cultural center, the bathrooms literally have two commodes right next to each other (no wall), the plumbing cannot handle flushing toilet paper down it and the player accommodations are similar to a prison cell.

So…visitors will be immersed in 20th Century Soviet Russian tradition. What’s wrong with that?

[Cat_Whisperer]

@Chimera

My feeling is that we should have a single Summer Olympics spot (preferably in Greece, since that’s where the games originated) and a single Winter Olympics spot (I dunno, Finland? Canada?) and be done with it.<snip>

If they wanted to have the permanent winter Olympics in Canada, I’d say go ahead - put it someplace like Whitehorse, Yukon, where they could use the economic boost and it’s not going to bother anybody.

@Damuri_Ajashi

If we had the Olympics in the same place over and over again, it probably would be an economic boon. If they kept having the olympics at SLC and the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, those places would see huge economic development as a result. Its the one shot nature of Olympic events that makes it such a bad deal, isn’t it?

Yup - the competition to get the games is where the first part of the corruption comes from, then the rest of the corruption comes from the contracts to build the venues.

[Dewey_Finn]

If the Olympics were permanently sited someplace, I expect that location would become popular as the site for other athletic competitions (e.g., the Asian Games, the Commonwealth Games, the Pan-American Games) because of the presence of the facilities that are really only needed every four years.

[ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness]

@silenus

I’m also wondering what is going to be the excuse when events aren’t telecast because of total failure of infrastructure.

Wait, there are actual events? As an NBC viewer I thought the Olympics was just a string of heartwarming profiles of American athletes intermingled with a shitload of commercials.
Events, huh? I doubt an NBC viewer would even notice if the events weren’t telecast.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

@Damuri_Ajashi

If we had the Olympics in the same place over and over again, it probably would be an economic boon. If they kept having the olympics at SLC and the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, those places would see huge economic development as a result. Its the one shot nature of Olympic events that makes it such a bad deal, isn’t it?

I suppose so, but can you imagine how much outrage there would be from every location that didn’t get selected as the permanent site? Greece is really the only objectively “fair” permanent site for the summer Olympics. The Winter Olympics arguably belong in either France or Sweden. The rest of the world - and non-Europeans in particular would howl.

[Munch]

@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness

Wait, there are actual events? As an NBC viewer I thought the Olympics was just a string of heartwarming profiles of American athletes intermingled with a shitload of commercials.
Events, huh? I doubt an NBC viewer would even notice if the events weren’t telecast.

I was under the impression that not unlike Santa or Tinkerbell, Bob Costas’ existence depends on people believing in him. So the near around-the-clock coverage that his toupe receives during the Olympics serves as a sort of rejuvenation elixir for him.

[Freddy_the_Pig]

A delightful account in the Chicago Tribune today:

It was already 5:50 a.m. and I couldn’t fall back to sleep so I figured I would just begin my day. I turned on the water to brush my teeth, but nothing came out. Just the gagging, asthmatic sound of pipes wanting to produce water.

I tried to flip on the shower. It wouldn’t work. The toilets wouldn’t flush either.

I called the front desk.

“It will be fixed in 40 minutes,” the sympathetic man at the reception desk told me. “But when it comes back on, please do not use on your face because it contains something very dangerous.”

. . .

When the water eventually came back on at my hotel — my temporary housing for a night until my scheduled room could be finished — the water that poured through the faucet was dark yellow. It was the color of apple juice or a performance enhancing drug test specimen. The shower left what looked like fish food flakes coating the tub.

[even_sven]

@Gangster_Octopus

Except we are literally days away and they are not done with the hotels, the cultural center, the bathrooms literally have two commodes right next to each other (no wall), the plumbing cannot handle flushing toilet paper down it and the player accommodations are similar to a prison cell.

Not to mention the strange babble they speak. No matter how loud I ask, people insist on refusing to speak English. It’s ridiculous.

And the food! I don’t know how they eat that slop. You can’t even get a hamburger at most restaurants! They give you soft drinks without ice and weird off brand beer. You could easily starve to death. I mean, who eats fish eggs?

I agree they shouldn’t give the Olympics to foreigners, with their poverty and strange habits and incomprehensible tongues.

[Dewey_Finn]

[SARCASM]Yes, that’s exactly what people are saying.[/SARCASM]

[Terr]

@even_sven

Not to mention the strange babble they speak. No matter how loud I ask, people insist on refusing to speak English. It’s ridiculous.

And the food! I don’t know how they eat that slop. You can’t even get a hamburger at most restaurants! They give you soft drinks without ice and weird off brand beer. You could easily starve to death. I mean, who eats fish eggs?

I agree they shouldn’t give the Olympics to foreigners, with their poverty and strange habits and incomprehensible tongues.

I lived in Russia for the first 16 years of my life. That was 30+ years ago. Every toilet in every apartment I ever saw could flush toilet paper. What the hell happened that 30 years hence toilets can’t flush toilet paper?

[Sicks_Ate]

I, for one, am looking forward to reading about the train wreck in Sochi. I wonder how many people are cancelling their trip right now? No way in hell I’d go, it looks like a cross between a poorly managed construction site and a war zone.

Oh wait. That’s what it is.

[even_sven]

@Terr

I lived in Russia for the first 16 years of my life. That was 30+ years ago. Every toilet in every apartment I ever saw could flush toilet paper. What the hell happened that 30 years hence toilets can’t flush toilet paper?

Well, Russia is a bit of a train wreck right now. But South Africa? Brazil? China? These are not Luxemborg, for sure, but hardly the pits of hell.

[Ulf_the_Unwashed]

@even_sven

Not to mention the strange babble they speak. No matter how loud I ask, people insist on refusing to speak English. It’s ridiculous.

And the food! I don’t know how they eat that slop. You can’t even get a hamburger at most restaurants! They give you soft drinks without ice and weird off brand beer. You could easily starve to death. I mean, who eats fish eggs?

I agree they shouldn’t give the Olympics to foreigners, with their poverty and strange habits and incomprehensible tongues.

I assume you are being sarcastic, but if so you are really missing the point. Have you been following the news from Sochi at all? This is not about languages or food, or about poverty, or about some ugly-American stereotype. This is not about the kinds of issues that cropped up in Vancouver or Nagano or Torino or London, or for that matter the South African World Cup issues. This is about some basic stuff that Russia assured the IOC would happen, and it hasn’t happened.

Now, I tend to believe that it will all turn out better in the end than it seems to be right now. And maybe things are not as problematic as has been reported. But the fact is that are a lot of very serious concerns about conditions in Sochi are being reported from a very wide variety of sources, American and otherwise, and this in the last few days before the games begin. Again, not food, certainly not language, but issues in some cases involving basic health and hygiene.

If you aren’t aware of that I suggest you educate yourself about some of these issues a bit. If you are aware of it, then i am not sure what your agenda is, but your comment just makes you look foolish.

[Dewey_Finn]

Here I thought we were discussing how unprepared the Russians are for these games despite the years of preparation and expenditure of $50 billion, but fortunately even sven is here to inform me that I’m being provincial for expecting things to be ready for an event that’s going to attract people from around the world, some of whom do only speak English and who may want food that’s familiar.

[Princhester]

@Great_Antibob

A few isolated instances of entire hotels (not just for the media but also for athletes) not being completed? Um…ok.

Maybe some things are being blown out of proportion, but to my mind, media sensationalism is hardly necessary when buildings meant for imminent human habitation are not complete.

And you learned this is true through what? Being there? Or through the very blowing out of proportion that I’m talking about?