[ezkcdude]

Originally Posted by billybobsky ahem... atlanta still isn't on the map...

What the hell are you talking about? We just hosted the 1st Annual Cardboard*Con!!!

[Eugene]

I don't understand this thread.

1) Atlanta 1996 sucked. Chrome Chevy trucks anyone?

2) The world is more than Europe and North America.

3) Host nations can benefit greatly in terms of social and economic reform leading up to the games. Every Olympics is a massive civil engineering undertaking as well as a tourism opportunity. You can argue that ultra-modern, gentrified host cities should be among the lowest priority for hosting an event that is supposed to bring the world together.

4) San Francisco's recent bids for the Summer Olympics were basically this" "We can do it cheaper!" Incorporating venues like the old Stanford stadium, the Coliseum, Candlestick, etc. An Olympic Village @ Moffett Field. Some of our other city's bids were just as bad.

5) Are we really going to complain about this?

1904 St. Louis, MO
1932 Lake Placid, NY
1932 Los Angeles, CA
1960 Squaw Valley, CA
1980 Lake Placid, NY
1984 Los Angeles, CA
1996 Atlanta, GA

1976 Montreal
1988 Calgary
2010 Vancouver

1968 Mexico

In fact, if you consider all the Olympic Games not hosted by North America and Western Europe, you have a very short list indeed.

Japan x3 (A very technocratic state)
Greece x2 (You can even argue that Greece is more in line with Western Europe than Eastern Europe)
USSR x1
Australia x1 (English speaking, Western values)
China x1
South Korea x1
Yugoslavia x1

[Robo]

Originally Posted by Eugene 1904 St. Louis, MO 1932 Lake Placid, NY 1932 Los Angeles, CA 1960 Squaw Valley, CA 1980 Lake Placid, NY 1984 Los Angeles, CA 1996 Atlanta, GA

I was wondering when someone would post that list.

Several things about it: First of all, the overwhelming majority of it is before the separation of Winter Games moved to their own years (establishing the Olympic pattern we know today) in 1994. Listing both 1932 Games as the US hosting the Games "twice" is disingenuous, since awarding the Summer and Winter games to the same country was the norm then.

Second, the IOC never elected Los Angeles host of the Games; there were no other bids. If LA had not hosted the Games, presumably no one else would have. As this thread is about the voting habits of the IOC, Los Angeles 1984 is probably not applicable.

Thirdly, this thread is primarily about the Summer Olympics, as Vancouver has obviously just successfully hosted the Winter Olympics, a first for the PNW. Not to at all diminish that accomplishment, but...the Winter Olympics are a much smaller event than the Summer Games, with a fraction of the athletes; there's a reason Paris still has their eye on 2024 even as Annecy bids for 2018. The Winter Games remain divided largely between Europe and North America, in part because South America and Africa aren't very well suited for them; still I'm hoping PyeongChang gets 2018 and I'm actually hoping for a New Zealand bid in 2022, as I've already mentioned. (I love Annecy but if they get 2018 I will be so mad. )

Finally, you post the list but I've already conceded that point, that North America used to host the games a bunch (and how it was okay for Europe to also host the games a bunch when the only competition was North America). But of course, a lot has changed since the eighties, when Atlanta, et al. made their bids. No one is arguing that there are more bidders, but my complaint is that North America is the only continent making the room for them. Let's look at the Summer Games this millenium, shall we?

2000 -- Oceania
2004 -- Europe
2008 -- Asia
2012 -- Europe
2016 -- South America
2020 -- All but certainly Africa, as no one else is planning on bidding (besides Rome/Europe, of course)
2024 -- Will be a huge upset if it's not Europe again (Paris).

Hmm, which continent is on there three times, and which is on there not at all? Besides Antarctica, that is

[Eugene]

Using the millennium as an arbitrary cut-off point are we? Gosh I wonder which country hosted the games just before that?

Here, let's view your list from a different perspective:

1996 - USA, last hosted a Summer Olympics in 1984.
2000 - Australia...when's the last time Oceania hosted a games before that? 1956...
2004 - Greece...which is a different country than Spain, and a different country than Germany...the previous two hosts of the summer games. This was also a special circumstance as it was the 100th anniversary of the modern games.
2008 - China's first ever Olympics, and probably the most impressive of our time.
2012 - England...who last hosted in 1948.
2016 - Brazil, the first for ANY South American country.
2020 - TBD
2024 - TBD

Sorry, but I'm going to award the Olympics to a country that has NEVER hosted the games over one that has hosted 8. I'm sorry, but cookie-cutter Chicago/NYC/San Francisco/Seattle/etc games wouldn't be as interesting to me. I mean sure, it would be great...the powerhouse host nations always do well in the medal counts. It's all about us right? So what if we don't get another Summer Olympics until 2028 or later? Maybe we should have spaced out our bids so Atlanta 1996 didn't follow just twelve years after Los Angeles 1984.

[Robo]

Originally Posted by Eugene You're ignoring the other part of my thread. You know, the part where I explain here's an entire world outside of America?

Erm, I know that. I think you're being too quick to paint me with a "American who thinks that the US is the world" brush. You're using stereotypes as a shorthand that just isn't applicable.

Originally Posted by Eugene Here, let's view your list from a different perspective: 2000 - Australia...when's the last time Oceania hosted a games before that? 2004 - Greece...which is a different country than Spain, and a different country than Germany...the previous two hosts of the summer games. This was also a special circumstance as it was the 100th anniversary of the modern games. 2008 - China's first ever Olympics, and probably the most impressive of our time. 2012 - England...who last hosted in 1948. 2016 - Brazil, the first for ANY South American country. 2020 - TBD 2024 - TBD

Again, I think in your haste to use shorthand you're missing my point. I'm not upset Oceania hosted. I'm not upset Rio got 2016. I'm *rooting* for PyeongChang and a New Xealand bid that doesn't even exist yet, because I want Oceania to host again. Are you even reading my posts?

My beef isn't that Asia, Oceania, Africa, and South America are hosting more games. I think that's great. My beef is that Europe is still hosting as many games as ever, even with the increased competition, meaning North America gets left out in the cold.

Europe has hosted the Summer Games twice this century, and will almost certainly host a third time before the North America or Asia or Oceania has an honest shot. There's nothing "American-centric" about noticing that.

[Eugene]

Europe has a large pool of nations capable of pulling off a Summer Games. European countries are also quite culturally distinct from each other. Like I said, maybe we shouldn't be as greedy about bidding on every Olympic Games and maybe we'd get one every 24 years or so instead of two in 12 years and none for decades after that?

[joveblue]

Originally Posted by Eugene Australia x1 (English speaking, Western values)

Australia has had 2 actually,

Melbourne 1956
Sydney 2000