2012 Olympics...Who will win?
 

So...most New Yorkers I've heard from think it's a bad idea for NYC. But I tend to think as it gets closer, they'll warm up to the idea.

That said, I think Paris will win so people shut up about them losing twice already.

I vote London.

The presentations are pretty wacky..in that, some of the people who do the talking are so scripted and it's worse than an awards show - in that sense. I'm watching the web cast, because I'm working and it's far more interesting than CNN right now.

They'll announce the winner in 4 hours Singapore time.

Apparently, Russia's bid was the first time that Vladimir Putin ever spoke English in a public appearance.

I think it will be London.

Ladbrokes (bookmakers) say Paris
http://www.ladbrokes.com/lbr_portal?...LAYOUT=default

Paris	1/2
London	2/1
Madrid	7/1
New York	25/1
Moscow	50/1

The bookmakers are almost always wrong. They were right with Beijing, but everyone assumed they'd get it after losing out for 2000.

I think London is the favourite, but Madrid has an outside shot since they've never hosted.

We'll know fairly soon.

So, you suggest putting money on London then :)

Dola, I'll be happy with any choice but New York (so that we can see the Games live here in Europe)

Yeah what Alf posted seems to be what is said in Spain too. Too bad as i really wanted it in Madrid (40 minutes from my home by car).

I voted London, but I think its neck and neck with Paris, and Paris will probably get it.

They're giving the report of the sites they visited. Lots of pagentry and babble right now, all the cities have ended their presentations.

From what the NY Times said, NYC's bid presentation was well received, while Madrid's wasn't. London spent a lot of time focusing on youth and what their bid would do for them - and youth sport there - while the French essentially apologized for being snooty and not speaking English in past years.

Which is bizarre.

Madrid has the best public approval ratings of any of the cities and is the most "cost-effective" of all the bids. As the only major European capital never to host, it might be interesting to see people get behind them.

But I'd be surprised if London or Paris didn't get it.

But New York could emerge as a dark horse. Dan Doctoroff the guy who has basically handled most of the heavy lifting on the US bid, seems hellbent on winning and despite all the talk of "avoiding corruption" I have a hell of a time believing that all the money that New York is swimming in hasn't been used to pad someone's pockets or "change hearts and minds."

That said, seems like New York - as crowded as it is - is a turnoff for most people interesting. I think all the buildup would be a waste if NYC lost the bid.

President Rogge just told the visitors that they could come back at 1900 local for the announcement of the city. They're at a break now and that's in about an hour and a half local time (it's almost 530pm now)

Most are saying there hasn't been this sort of deadlock over who was going to win in years, so it's a real tossup at this point - which plays into New York's favour. I think Madrid will have to wait until 2024 or something, I think it's just too soon for them.

So...we'll see. After this break, they're going to start voting. I'll post when I find out..

Will tehre be several voting rounds ?

The voting process is about to begin. They just did a test vote using their nifty voting boxes (the whole process is secret ballot) to make sure they work.

To the IOC's credit, at least you can watch the vote online via web cast. I wonder if the candidate city folk are allowed to or if they just have to sit and wait until after its over.

They're drawing right now for the candidate city positions on the ballot. First ballot follows.

In theory. The city with the lowest number of votes get dropped each round, but it's possible for a city to get the majority of the votes in one round, though that seems unlikely in this case.

This whole thing reminds me of taking a test in school when the teacher reads you the instructions about how to fill out the bubbles on the test answer sheet.

It's funny, but..I guess necessary.

The first vote is about to be opened right now. I don't know how long they get, but I can't imagine it takes weeks or anything. Then, the President of the IOC reads the results and I think it goes from there.

Apparently, in the rounds their countries are part of the vote..the IOC reps from each of the candidate cities are not allowed to vote.

"All those who wish to vote for New York, they are invited to press 4 and then the key marked valid."

He had to say that for each of the cities (and their requisite number) Apparently, they can abstain too. Which I didn't know.

They're now debating whether the voting box says "OK" after the person votes or not. The President thought the guy said there was, apparently there isn't and he just clarified.

Weird.

The President Jacque Rogge is a pain. He's dragging this thing out, trying to get them to clarify the instructions, again - about the "OK" appearing "after the choice had been made."

So he's making them read the instructions again for the third time. Then the first vote should open. Grr....

But the guy doing it, just sped it up and told them what to do rather than reading the instructions verbatim.

1st ballot Voting is now open.

1ST ROUND VOTING RESULTS

97 PARTICIPANTS
0 ABSTENTIONS

MOSCOW was dropped from the next round

2nd round voting is now open.

will the final vote be displayed like this one for Moscow, or will they annouce it in a more "official" way ?

2nd vote is closed...

I wonder if New York's bid will die here. They didn't give us the number breakdown, so we don't know how many votes Moscow got in the last round. But will those votes go to Europe or to NYC? That's the wonder...

We'll know shortly.

Ve vill crush you!

Eventually the numbers will be on the site and you can see the breakdown. But not yet.

No abstentions

2ND ROUND VOTE RESULTS

NEW YORK was dropped!

WOW....I guess it's not a surprise.

Paris will win, that's what I think.

They'll do a ceremony after this whole voting process to announce the winner and to sign the contract I guess.

Voting is closed....

This could be it. If it comes down to London and Paris, that will be an interesting battle.

I guess all the networks are covering this now.

no, please Dark Cloud, continue, I am at work

Madrid gets dropped.

Paris is going to win, though I wonder if the Americans will put their support behind London to shaft the French.

I have to say that either London or Paris will be a great place to have the Olympics.

This is the last vote..

Paris v. London

Hehe...here's an epic battle.

I guess it's fair, but then you have to wonder who gets it in 2016. New York says they won't bother to put together another bid, but you have to like their chances in 2016, since Europe won't get the games again and Africa isn't expected to be ready until 2020.

I agree. I think New York was a bit of a reach and considering that nary a New Yorker other than politicians seemed to want the games...it was a dead deal, especially after the stadium debacle.

Also don't forget the persistent rumors that New York's 2012 bid was something of a front to get some stadiums and development deals through to support their real 2016 bid. They always denied it but the rumors wouldn't go away...

Apparently, Jacques Chirac was caught on mic dogging out the English - saying something along the lines of "you can't trust people with such bad food." Or something.

They're going to make us wait 45 minutes for the "announcement" ceremony. They're not going to announce the winner until then.

2016 in NY would do it. But I think, South America will run again (Buenos Aires did run in the early stages)

Well, we all know that had to be the case. I mean, anytime the Jets are trying to get a stadium built that was a huge albatross as a front for the Olympics..and the Brooklyn arena was also part of this swindle...I just can't believe the New York politicians though this thing was going to have legs.

I mean, sentimentally you say "Olympics good" maybe...but the truth is, New York is on the world stage all the time. It doesn't really
need the Olympics games to do that.

Yeah, he did way something like that....

Boooooooooo!

The IOC are all werewolves.

South America is well overdue for a successful bid. I think Brazil has to be an early favourite, simply because of all the talk of making the games more affordable for developing countries to host.

2020 might seem a ways away for them to be thinking about (NYC), but you have to bet that North America will get the Games by then, because of precedent. So maybe 2016 makes more sense for a NYC bid that's more polished, giving way to South American in 2020 and Africa afterwards.

2024 would be Cape Town, then, I guess. Though...one has to wonder what the state of affairs in South Africa will be by then.

I am glad NY did not get the nod; I think its about the last city that should be hosting something like the Olympics.

Phoenix, people. Phoenix.


It's a dry heat.

I wonder how long it will be until Bahrain or the UAE make a bid. Sure there's not much there (except luxury hotels and shopping) but you'd figure that unlimited wealth to build complete infrastructure from scratch has to count for something.

thank god it's not New York. We don't have an inch of sidewalk space in the summertime as it is.

Although I'll admit it would have been fun watching marathon runners come through Central Park and choke on the stink of urin or slip in some horse shit.

"The only thing they (the English) have ever done for European agriculture is mad cow,"

"After Finland, it's the country with the worst food."

Poor Finnish.

There was a thing on the BBC about Chirac going to Finland for some reason coming up and this Finnish-British chef looking forward to serving him a meal. ;)

Not since the Chariots of Fire Olympics in 24 has Paris had the Olympics. I think it will be due.

www.isoh.org