Who Wants the Olympic Games?

Activities in Sochi, Russia have come to an end as the 2014 Winter Olympics becomes history. Next stop: Summer Games of 2016 to be held in sunny Rio de Janiero. Planning and building venues are quickly taking shape while critics are fearful that Rio will not be ready!

Rio de Janeiro, The site of  Summer Games Aug 5-22, 2009

The International Olympic Committee accepts bids far in advance of the events ,and negotiations of competing countries seem to take some interesting, but not necessarily public, twists.Who wants the next event? The Olympic Committee wants to plan ahead!
This will be a first for Rio and talk of “Will they be ready?” is the question on the lips of all interested. This will be the first time a South American city will have hosted the event.

---As for winter-game schedules, here's the bids and deals---

Dragon Valley Ski Resort of PyeongChang, South Korea

The 2018 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXIII Olympic Winter Games of winter multi-sport event is scheduled to take place between 9–25 February 2018. Who wants it?
The elected host city was announced on 6 July 2011 by the International Olympic Committee (IOC),The cities of Annecy, France in the French Alps, Munich, Germany , and Pyeongchang, South Korea, a two-time previous bidder, competed for the hosting rights to the event.     The winner:
                        South Korea
   


 
The Olympic games have been played in a variety of world events since the first games in France.

The first Olympic Winter Games was held in Chamonix, France in 1924. The sign-board reads:

ETATS UNIS    D'AMERIQUE

 Later events were held in a time when nations were tense with threats of war on everyone's minds..

Chancellor Adolf Hitler opens the 1936  IV Olympics in Germany.

The Olympic games were canceled during 

WWII and resumed in 1948.

Oslo, Norway hosted the Winter Games in 1952.

Ski-jumping at Holenkollen above a large of spectators.

Every event has the latest innovation to aid the athletes in safety and performance. German luge competitors tried a new style of air-dynamic headgear.

German luge team tries practice-round headgear in 1976

   How does the host country become The Chosen One?

There has been much controversy over a country chosen for some events.A scandal broke on 10 December 1998, when Swiss IOC member Marc Hodler, head of the coordination committee overseeing the organization of the 2002 games, announced that several members of the IOC had taken bribes.The Department of Justice filed charges against the two: fifteen charges of bribery and fraud. Those under investigation were eventually acquitted of all criminal charges in December 2003 however, as a result of the investigation ten members of the IOC were expelled and another ten were sanctioned.

----- And that’s not all!----

In 2006, a report ordered by the Nagano region's governor said the Japanese city provided millions of dollars in an "illegitimate and excessive level of hospitality" to IOC members, including $4.4 million spent on entertainment alone.

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Russian Olympic planners  were thinking about a tourist attraction for their 2014 Olympics.Two orca whales captured in the Sea of Okhotsk off the coast of Russia were planned to be moved and displayed in Sochi during the Olympics, but stayed home  in Moscow after officials of a “Whale and Dolphin” protection organization learned of the plans and protested.

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           So, who really wants to host the Winter games in 2022?

Beijing would host the skating, curling and other indoor events in the city, with the snow events 120 miles away in the northern Chinese city of Zhangjiakou. Tough for fans to catch another event!
Krakow would use the Tatra mountain resort of Zakopane in Poland for the ice events, with the Alpine events 95 miles across the Slovak border in Jasna. ( 95 miles?)

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Oslo has estimated the cost of its games at $5.3 billion. Stockholm has claimed it would spend only $1.5 billion, a figure that seems extremely low. The city and national governments have expressed some doubts about Stockholm's bid plans.
Five cities — Almaty, Kazakhstan; Beijing; Krakow, Poland; Lviv, Ukraine; and Oslo — have submitted their bid files to the International Olympic Committee to host the 2022 Winter Olympics on Friday, according to an Associated Press report.

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The IOC executive board will decide what cities will advance to the “final phase” in July, and then a host city will be selected on July 31, 2015, in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia.

Stockholm pulled out shortly after bidding. Public unease over the price and environmental impact of the

Games caused Swedish officials to turn down the IOC offer. Oslo has estimated the cost of its games at $5.3 billion. Stockholm has claimed it would spend only
$1.5 billion, a figure that seems extremely low. The city and national governments have expressed some doubts about Stockholm's bid plans.Oslo has hesitated on accepting the next Winter Olympics. It all sounds pretty expensive!

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Oslo officials stated that “High and Mighty demands made by members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) were setting off ridicule and head-shaking among members of the Norwegian Parliament .
The so-called Lords of the Rings at the IOC have high expectations for how they'd expect to be greeted and treated during a “Winter Olympics in Oslo”. Norwegian politicians quickly seemed keen to lower them .
“Now these people at the IOC really need to be brought back down to earth,” remarked one scoffing Norwegian politician on national radio station NRK1. Apparently, there are many deals quietly discussed during these negotiations.
The process for awarding host city honours became interesting when Salt Lake City had been awarded the right to host the 2002 Games. Soon after the host city had been announced, it was discovered that the

organizers had engaged in an elaborate bribery scheme to curry favor with IOC officials. Gifts and other financial considerations were given to those who would evaluate and vote on Salt Lake City's bid. These gifts included medical treatment for relatives, a college scholarship for one member's son and a land deal in Utah. Even IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch received two rifles valued at $2,000

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When the decision is made, it appears Oslo is not really interested!

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 So, how would a host-country benefit?

Earlier Beijing games were intended to show off China’s spending and organizational power. London’s games were a means of bringing back to life a poor part of the capital to a

Pat Rische

quicker speed . Tokyo hopes the 2020 games will bolster  Japan’s lackluster economy. "It's a feather in the cap of leaders who were responsible for getting the games," said Pat Rishe, professor of economics at Webster University. "Like most host communities, the Russians hoped to increase tourism and expose the world to Russian culture and progress," He went on to say: "It's also the idea that the games will bring development and that the facilities will be used after the games are over. At least that's the feeling."

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 One study says that cities that become hosts experience a 30 percent increase in international trade, as they "show themselves to be open for business with the global community." Sochi games was expected to exceed $50 billion and experts say the money is unlikely to be recovered. In fact," No Olympic Games in history have made it into the black", according to Robert Barney, founding director of the International Centre for Olympic Studies at Western University in London, Ontario.

 So, why would ANY country want to host this expensive undertaking?

Especially with the possibility that the people-in-power of some of these countries won't be around when "their" country is chosen..

Meanwhile, let's enjoy the summer....

Rio de Janerio. Site of Summer Games 2018

Anyone For Golf?

 The PGA season is well underway. Tiger has already experienced back spasms and pro golfers are ready for another weekend of activity on the links. Meanwhile, here in the upper regions of the latest polar vortex, golf is a sport we watch on television while we wait for the temperature to rise and the snow to stop falling.

 While we are unable to participate, that doesn’t stop golf from being played , even in the most extreme winter conditions. If one lived in Norway or Sweden, the wait for favorable “golf weather” might take some time!

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Swedish professional golfer Henrik Stenson is ranked in the World top ten and his career high ranking of third is the best by any Swedish golfer as he plays both on the PGA and European Tours. In a recent report, Stenson earned 20 million dollars in golf tournament winnings. Golf was invented in cooler regions of our world and I’m sure some people can’t wait to practice their sport each season. Perhaps, Henrik’s ancestors encouraged the golfing-spirit  in him and they just couldn’t wait to get out on the links, perhaps starting before the snow melts.

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But in the winter time??

Kolf on the frozen canal

Snow golf competition March 21-23, 2014

In March, 2012,  golf enthusiasts in Kiruna, northern Sweden took to the “whites” to compete for the unofficial title of Sweden’s best “snow golfer”. Snow golf and classical golf seem to share a common ancestor in the Dutch game known as “Kolf”, played since the Middle Ages. Evidence for Kolf as a popular winter pastime can be seen in numerous 17th century paintings. Golfers in search of an alternative winter break might want to consider a trip to Swedish Lapland, where they can play snow golf in the picturesque surroundings of the Bjorkliden mountain resort.

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The first European championship in “Snow Golf” was held in Switzerland January 13th-16th, 2011. 

72 qualifiers played in the two day tournament.

Tina-Blomme

Modern day Snow Golf was "invented" by a Canadian-Tina Blomme. She incorporated Snow Golf Inc. in 1998. Since then, Ms. Blomme has been promoting the sport. She designed and operated the first official Snow Golf 9-hole course in Québec, Canada (the course was located next to the celebrated Ice Hotel). Although Ms. Blomme is now in law school, she consults on all aspects of the sport. Snow Golf has had a short, but interesting history. She stated: "When I started the sport in 1998- it was unheard of. Many called me crazy for even considering inventing and promoting this sport".

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The first player of modern snow golf was Rudyard Kipling, an avid golfer. While writing The Jungle Book in

Rudyard Kipling

Vermont, Kipling allegedly relaxed by playing snow golf during the winters of the early 1890s.Rudyard Kipling didn’t only like literature, he also had a passion for sport and was a visionary: with the help of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (creator of the famous detective Sherlock Holmes), he was the first person to play his favorite sport: snow golf. During the long winter months that he spent at ‘Naulakha’ in Vermont, USA, he used to play with red golf balls and cans.

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Winter golfing has also existed for a long time in Canada played with snowshoes or skis, colored  golf-balls or big rubber balls, the latter sinking less into the powder snow. Forget the putter, the game is mainly played as a target area.

Europeans have a name for winter golf. It’s called “Piste Golf”. It’s a noun, a French term for “trail” or “track”. A piste is usually a marked ski run down a mountain for snow skiing, snowboarding or other mountain sports, sometimes known as The Fairway.

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Tomas Wågberg och Susanne Mellgren, SM segrare i snögolf i Kiruna.

While the whole world may never warm to the sport of snow golfing, Sweden’s Arctic Circle has embraced it, with their 2nd annual weekend competition. Last year’s  winners were two who finished the nine-hole course (played twice each to make for an even 18) with the lowest scores of the day.

“Those who are golf-crazy find it really exciting to play golf in the winter,” said Mellgren, who placed second last year, and quoted in the local Norrländska Social Demokraten newspaper (NSD).

 For those who don’t know what snow golf is, imagine regular golf – but on snow. For Wåberg, the difference between snow golf and regular golf  is not so big.
“It’s quite special to play on the snow, but it’s just like normal golf anyway. You need to have a clean hit, the ball goes where you aim it.” he told the paper. On the surface, they all look like normal golf
balls, but give them a sharp tap and they light up for seven minutes. “You need to have more precision in the winter,” she said. As to "where they go where aimed", Mellgren claims, in fact," the opposite".

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Here, in our usually moderate and mostly predictable weather, we are normally waiting for the water puddles to dry and the flags appear on our golfing "greens". However, with the advent of two "PolarVortexes", the abnormal might soon become the norm. Future golfers may need different equipment.

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Tee Time 7 PM after the crowd leaves, tomorrow? 

See you there!