04/19/24
July 29, 2005
Seven cities to bid for 2014 Winter Olympics. :
And, from the perspective of an alpine skiing fan, let me say right now that there is only one, possibly two, of the candidate cities that would not completely suck ass. In fact, upon reading several of the names, I said to myself, "This is a joke, right?" Wrong.
posted by lil_brown_bat to other at 04:46 PM - 8 comments
Well, South Korea just had an Olympics, so that's a strike against them. You know, in '85 or whenever that process began, who had ever even heard of Lillehammer for '94? And that wound up being a huge success, so maybe some of these "Where-the-hell-is-that?" type places can put together a good package and host a good Games. I kind of hope that happens, actually.
posted by chicobangs at 06:09 PM on July 29, 2005
Well, South Korea just had an Olympics, so that's a strike against them. It may seem that way, chicobangs, but by the time they light the flame it will have been twenty-six years. Canada will have waited 22 years in 2010; the US had waited 22 years between winter Olympics in 2002. I like Korea's chances, based on nothing so far.
posted by Amateur at 08:53 PM on July 29, 2005
Well, South Korea just had an Olympics, so that's a strike against them. You could have said that about Salt Lake City, and that was a mere 8 years after Atlanta. Of course, I'm sure all the bribes cut out a good 20 years out of that deal.
posted by mkn at 09:50 PM on July 29, 2005
I like Korea's chances... Yeah, when I think alpine skiing, I think South Korea. With the summit of their tallest mountain a dizzying 6000ft, who wouldn't? And with the fiasco of the Seoul olympics still fresh in everyone's mind, it only makes sense to give it to them...
posted by smithnyiu at 12:07 PM on July 30, 2005
So, er, which ones do you think are a joke?
posted by salmacis at 08:02 PM on July 30, 2005
So, er, which ones do you think are a joke? Almaty, Borjomi, and Sochi. None of those countries has ever hosted a World Cup ski event, and they don't have the expertise to do so. You can't have amateurs running these things; particularly in the speed events, it's dangerous to the competitors. Pyeongchang would also be a bad idea; the snow in Korea is terrible. Yes, they've had World Cup events there. The Koreans did a great job in re: the event itself, from what I heard; they were very enthusiastic about it. But the snow itself was really, really bad, and everyone hated having to fly halfway around the world for a crap race. Bulgaria's a maybe. They have ski areas and even a national team -- dunno if their snow or mountains are any good -- but, again, no history of running events quite this big. But it would suck less badly than, say, Kazakhstan.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 06:38 AM on July 31, 2005
Pyeongchang would also be a bad idea; the snow in Korea is terrible Yeah, I used to live in Korea, just west of Pyeongchang. The snow there was wet and heavy during the day, and freezes to ice at night. Worst possible conditions. And their longest run is a bunny trail compared to Austria or a couple other places on the list. Can't believe they are serious about this.
posted by smithnyiu at 08:16 AM on July 31, 2005
The early money will be on Spain, Austria and S. Korea - they will have hard currency available. Let the usual IOC selection process begin. With the exception of Jaca, I can't imagine wanting to visit any of the candidate 'cities' unless I had to.