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Post by Tom on Feb 1, 2022 8:13:46 GMT -5
I feel like we just had Olympics. I don't know if it's COVID, or the two year alternating between summer and winter, but it's Olympics Olympics Olympics. For our infrastructure, and the fact that we largely don't systematically round up political opponents or religious/ethnic minorities and kill them, the Olympics should be held here. Like '92 says, the timezone differences alone and seeing on tape delay are reason enough to be less-than-enthused. We also don't need stories of athletes sleeping on cardboard beds, or stadia being built at extreme costs in poor nations that languish and collapse years later... just do them in the US and Western Europe and let's stop the IOC from "awarding" in random host nations that have no business hosting. No business in hosting? Beijing is the ninth most populous city in the world in the largest country by population in the world. So they have no business hosting? The other finalist for these Olympics was Almaty, Kazakhstan. China is only building the following facilities: Speed Skating, a Big Air facility in Beijing, Alpine Skiing Center, and Bobsled/Luge facility. They are also building two Olympic villages. They took the swimming facility and made it into a curling arena. The budget for these Olympics is 1/10th of the Summer Olympics that China hosted in 2008. Ignoring everything political, population, and corporate, one could reasonably argue that any city that doesn't normally have a lot of snow has no business hosting a Winter Olympics
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Post by HC92 on Feb 1, 2022 8:25:40 GMT -5
Seems like Lake Placid is due for another Winter Olympics.
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Post by thecrossisback on Feb 1, 2022 9:45:48 GMT -5
How about the idea that all the reporters will be talking about the events from studios in America.
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Post by bfoley82 on Feb 1, 2022 10:28:34 GMT -5
How about the idea that all the reporters will be talking about the events from studios in America. Just like they did for Tokyo?
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Post by bfoley82 on Feb 1, 2022 10:31:47 GMT -5
No business in hosting? Beijing is the ninth most populous city in the world in the largest country by population in the world. So they have no business hosting? The other finalist for these Olympics was Almaty, Kazakhstan. China is only building the following facilities: Speed Skating, a Big Air facility in Beijing, Alpine Skiing Center, and Bobsled/Luge facility. They are also building two Olympic villages. They took the swimming facility and made it into a curling arena. The budget for these Olympics is 1/10th of the Summer Olympics that China hosted in 2008. Ignoring everything political, population, and corporate, one could reasonably argue that any city that doesn't normally have a lot of snow has no business hosting a Winter Olympics So you admit that Sochi had no business hosting either?
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Post by WCHC Sports on Feb 1, 2022 10:58:30 GMT -5
Some places are better than other, Mr. Foley. China isn't one of them. I mentioned that I liked the idea of keeping it in the same spot for tradition, equal impact on the record books, some hype/specialty of the venue, as enjoyable as a casual fan and observer.
Also, if you HAVE to build-- spending MASSIVE amounts of money on infrastructure and temporary housing, sports arenas, that are likely never to be used again for that purpose, is extremely wasteful. Especially in places where there are human rights abuses, or other places where the money could/should be spent. Please don't conflate some alleged (from where, I have no idea) US cybercrimes with how China abuses its own people, and craps on the sovereignty of its neighbors whenever it sees fit. THE most selfish global neighbor/partner far and away.
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Post by bfoley82 on Feb 1, 2022 11:13:29 GMT -5
Some places are better than other, Mr. Foley. China isn't one of them. I mentioned that I liked the idea of keeping it in the same spot for tradition, equal impact on the record books, some hype/specialty of the venue, as enjoyable as a casual fan and observer. Also, if you HAVE to build-- spending MASSIVE amounts of money on infrastructure and temporary housing, sports arenas, that are likely never to be used again for that purpose, is extremely wasteful. Especially in places where there are human rights abuses, or other places where the money could/should be spent. Please don't conflate some alleged (from where, I have no idea) US cybercrimes with how China abuses its own people, and craps on the sovereignty of its neighbors whenever it sees fit. THE most selfish global neighbor/partner far and away. If you don't think the USA government isn't hacking into Russia, you are naive...they both are doing it to each other among other countries. And Olympic Villages can be turned into housing like in London en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Village,_London
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Post by WCHC Sports on Feb 1, 2022 12:20:25 GMT -5
I don't want to go any further down the political route. But there is a difference between espionage for intelligence, and a NK state-sponsored group hacking SONY pictures for IP, or holding hospital databases hostage for ransom.
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Post by Tom on Feb 1, 2022 12:26:42 GMT -5
Ignoring everything political, population, and corporate, one could reasonably argue that any city that doesn't normally have a lot of snow has no business hosting a Winter Olympics So you admit that Sochi had no business hosting either? First of all, I was kind of a worm and did not give my own opinion, I said one could reasonably argue that viewpoint. Most people on this board would be surprised to learn that I am not a world class skier. In spite of that, even I'm pretty sure the experts can tell differences between natural and man made snow (Non expert me finds newly man made snow stickier. After a few days I can't tell the difference. ) I am probably not qualified to say a city has no business hosting, but it does seem silly to me to have Winter Olympics someplace where there is no snow. That logic would apply equally to Sochi as it does to Beijing. I will also throw Tripoli on the list of silly places to host Winter Olympics
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Post by bfoley82 on Feb 1, 2022 12:35:59 GMT -5
So you admit that Sochi had no business hosting either? First of all, I was kind of a worm and did not give my own opinion, I said one could reasonably argue that viewpoint. Most people on this board would be surprised to learn that I am not a world class skier. In spite of that, even I'm pretty sure the experts can tell differences between natural and man made snow (Non expert me finds newly man made snow stickier. After a few days I can't tell the difference. ) I am probably not qualified to say a city has no business hosting, but it does seem silly to me to have Winter Olympics someplace where there is no snow. That logic would apply equally to Sochi as it does to Beijing. I will also throw Tripoli on the list of silly places to host Winter Olympics Sochi is literally a Russian resort town that gets three days of snow on average in a year. Beijing doubles that at six. Turin also doesn't get much snow but the mountains are ten miles away. A little closer than Beijing and Sochi.
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Post by rgs318 on Feb 1, 2022 13:35:01 GMT -5
If you don't think the USA government isn't hacking into Russia, you are naive...they both are doing it to each other among other countries. So you seem to believe that "two wrongs" do make a "right?" Unreal...but not a surprise.
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Post by bfoley82 on Feb 1, 2022 13:49:33 GMT -5
If you don't think the USA government isn't hacking into Russia, you are naive...they both are doing it to each other among other countries. So you seem to believe that "two wrongs" do make a "right?" Unreal...but not a surprise. I didn't say it was right....I am just saying USA media makes a big deal over China and Russia's actions but the USA's image isn't as squeaky clean as we make it out to be.
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Post by rgs318 on Feb 1, 2022 14:08:24 GMT -5
Who are the "we" you include in that?
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Post by Sons of Vaval on Feb 8, 2022 15:28:56 GMT -5
I feel like we just had Olympics. I don't know if it's COVID, or the two year alternating between summer and winter, but it's Olympics Olympics Olympics. For our infrastructure, and the fact that we largely don't systematically round up political opponents or religious/ethnic minorities and kill them, the Olympics should be held here. Like '92 says, the timezone differences alone and seeing on tape delay are reason enough to be less-than-enthused. We also don't need stories of athletes sleeping on cardboard beds, or stadia being built at extreme costs in poor nations that languish and collapse years later... just do them in the US and Western Europe and let's stop the IOC from "awarding" in random host nations that have no business hosting. No business in hosting? Beijing is the ninth most populous city in the world in the largest country by population in the world. So they have no business hosting? The other finalist for these Olympics was Almaty, Kazakhstan. China is only building the following facilities: Speed Skating, a Big Air facility in Beijing, Alpine Skiing Center, and Bobsled/Luge facility. They are also building two Olympic villages. They took the swimming facility and made it into a curling arena. The budget for these Olympics is 1/10th of the Summer Olympics that China hosted in 2008.
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Post by hcpride on Feb 9, 2022 17:40:21 GMT -5
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Post by rgs318 on Feb 11, 2022 7:59:51 GMT -5
Unreal...but (sadly) very believable.
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Post by bfoley82 on Feb 11, 2022 9:04:45 GMT -5
Watch Icarus on Netflix which goes into the Russian doping scandal.
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Post by hcpride on Feb 13, 2022 10:02:58 GMT -5
Probably the least interested I’ve ever been in an Olympics. And I usually love the Winter Olympics. Between China as the host, 13 hour time difference, very few people I’ve ever heard of, no NHL players, etc, not sure how much I’ll be watching. Probably not much. Skier Mikaela Shiffrin and snowboarder Shaun White are two names most people will recognize. Apparently Shiffrin and White have completely fizzled thus far. Yalie Nathan Chen won gold in figure skating. I got a little interested in Californian Eileen Gu who won a gold in some sort of skiing and seems an extraordinarily talented (in a number of different directions including piano, languages, and academics) 18-year-old. The Stanford-bound young woman is representing China which is an interesting development in and of itself. amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/02/07/china/eileen-gu-olympics-foreign-athletes-mic-intl-hnk/index.html
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Post by sader1970 on Feb 13, 2022 10:11:54 GMT -5
I'm really not big on American citizens renouncing their U.S. citizenship, which she apparently had to do in order to gain Chinese citizenship. She dodged the question in a press conference. (I'm American when I'm in the U.S. and Chinese when I'm in China"). Somewhat doubtful China would make an exception even for her.
My wife had to renounce her prior citizenship to gain U.S. citizenship. However, a few years back, she was allowed to re-gain her native country's citizenship w/o renouncing her U.S. status and is now dual-citizen.
My understanding is that I can add Irish citizenship based on my immigrant grandparents w/o renouncing my U.S. native citizenship. Had thought about it simply for traditional family ties but, frankly, just too lazy to do it. And, just as importantly, simply no need.
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Post by newfieguy74 on Feb 13, 2022 10:32:31 GMT -5
I agree it's hard to admire Gu's renunciation of her US citizenship. Deciding to be on the Chinese team gives regrettable credibility to an authoritarian country that's holding hundreds of thousands of people in concentration camps. Her vague bubbly comments about hoping to bring people together are naive and fatuous. I read she's already made 30 million dollars in endorsement money in China so perhaps the motivation is clear: $$$$.
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Post by sader1970 on Feb 13, 2022 10:38:32 GMT -5
Does cause one to have a yuk or two that she'd get millions in a communist country. How capitalistic!
On one hand, I almost don't blame her - she's only 18. Guessing Mom & Dad have advised her.
And, if you read pride's link, it also states what I suspect as a possibility, the Chinese government might not be enforcing their own renunciation rules.
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on Feb 13, 2022 13:31:19 GMT -5
I think there's a big difference between what Gu, as an elite athlete, did in renouncing her U.S. citizenship and what we always see in the Olympics where Italian-Americans , Jewish-Americans, and Irish-Americans (citing three common examples) who could not make the US Olympic baseball team play for the country where their parents or grandparents were born.
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Post by rgs318 on Feb 13, 2022 13:42:56 GMT -5
Renouncing her American citizenship is what made her worth the money China paid. Sad to see that...but if you are willing to sell your integrity, all that is still to be determined is the price.
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Post by bfoley82 on Feb 13, 2022 14:05:49 GMT -5
I think there's a big difference between what Gu, as an elite athlete, did in renouncing her U.S. citizenship and what we always see in the Olympics where Italian-Americans , Jewish-Americans, and Irish-Americans (citing three common examples) who could not make the US Olympic baseball team play for the country where their parents or grandparents were born. No different with all the American and Canadians playing for China in hockey www.latimes.com/sports/olympics/story/2022-02-13/united-states-canada-hockey-players-china-olympic-roster
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2022 15:53:01 GMT -5
I would hope that all of you who own stock in companies from China have sold in protest. Please don't shop at Walmart & Sams club since the Walton family has made billions selling China Junk to loyal proud Americans. Can you Two face
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