July 31, 2015

The IOC announces Beijing as the host of the 2022 Winter Olympics.: Beijing, which hosted the Summer Olympics in 2008, barely squeaked out a 44-40 win over its only competitor, Almaty, Kazakhstan. Pointing at the fact that a Beijing hosted Olympics would require relying on artificial snow, Almaty's campaign slogan was "Keeping It Real".

posted by Ufez Jones to olympics at 01:45 PM - 3 comments

Juliet Macur in the NYTimes:

The most obvious consequence of Friday's I.O.C. vote eliminating the annoying hurdle that the Winter Games host actually has natural snow is that it has created a precedent for holding a Winter Games almost anywhere. Imagine the possibilities.

A St. Tropez Winter Games. (Grenoble is, after all, just 140 miles away by air.) Slogan: Forget Snow, We've Got Sand.

Or Phoenix, where the luge track can run right down the side of the Grand Canyon.

Or Dubai, where the organizers have enough cash to fly everyone to the Alps for the skiing events. Then again, I take that back: People are probably skiing there as you read this, albeit inside a giant building. So bring on the Winter Games! Slogan: Keeping It Completely Indoors.

posted by Ufez Jones at 01:47 PM on July 31, 2015

It's like the bad joke about Chinese food: Have the Olympics and 13 years later you want to have the Olympics again.

posted by Howard_T at 03:30 PM on July 31, 2015

How cold can they get the insides of those air conditioned World Cup soccer stadiums in Qatar?

posted by beaverboard at 04:06 PM on July 31, 2015

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