HappySqurriel said:
Chicago was only the front-runner in the media because they were delusional enough to believe that Obama would make a difference ... The United States has hosted the Olympics 8 times which is more than any other country in the world, traditionally have difficulty getting full crowds to any sport that American athletes are not favourites in, have some of the least respectful crowds (often booing competitors who beat American atheletes), and often are logistical nightmares. Chicago has been in the news recently for an incident which demonstrated that the city can't keep school children safe when walking home from school which begs the question of how safe athletes and tourists will be when they come to the city. Finally, since the late 90s the IOC has been aggressively trying to fight the image that they award the Olympics based on factors outside of the actual proposals, so brining in president Obama and Oprah (along with famous athletes) to sell Chicago to the IOC was probably the opposite of what Chicago should have done. Realistically, anyone who has watched this happen in the past knew that Rio was going to win ... Edit: I should also have added that Chicago doesn’t really stand out culturally in a way that really lends itself to attracting events like the Olympics. The Olympics tends to rotate (to a certain extent) between the big "Dream Cities" and smaller cities that offer a distinct culture; Chicago isn’t really either. |
opps, lol, I got interuppted in the middle of my post and forgot to add "is a good idea" after "I don't know if having it in a place with a high crime rate"
Anyway, I was not defending Chicago, that would have honestly been one of the worst places to have it IMO. I completely agree with you on your assertion of Chicago. Anyway, I guess I have not heard booing from American crowds, but then, I always watch it on TV so I could be missing that (if it is true, well, that's just shameful). However, anywhere can be a logistics nightmare, and no matter where they are hosted, full crowds are not going to happen in any sport that isn't the favorite of the country's demographics. So the only reasons the US didn't get chosen were A. Chicago, B. It's somebody elses turn.
