Quizzes & Puzzles1 min ago
Why was the USA able to host the Olympics twice in 12 years?
The USA held the 1984 Olympics in LA and the 1996 games in Atlanta, a gap of 12 years , an inordinately short period of time. Why was this? Also if NY City were successfull in bidding on the 2012 games it would have only been a 16 year gap. Was this purely down to rotation on Continents or something else.
Answers
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There is no rotation of continents. No Olympics has been staged in continental Africa - in fact there has only ever been one African bid (Cape Town) for the 2004 Games.
St
St
01:45 Mon 13th Aug 2012
There is no rotation of continents. No Olympics has been staged in continental Africa - in fact there has only ever been one African bid (Cape Town) for the 2004 Games.
Statistically US cities may host a 'disproportionate' and 'more frequent' number of Summer Games because they make up the majority of bids. Of 169 bids to date, 36 (21.3%) were by US cities. The next highest tally are Italian, Spanish and German cities with 9 each. Los Angeles has put in the most bids of any city (9), followed by Detroit (7) and Rome (7).
London's winning re-bid for the 1948 Games (having originally been awarded the cancelled 1944 Games) was against Lausanne and 4 US cities (Baltimore, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Philadelphia).
Helsinki was awarded the 1952 Games against bids by Amsterdam and 5 US cities (Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Philadelphia).
Melbourne 1956 won against bids from Buenos Aires, Mexico City and 6 US cities (Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Philadelphia and San Francisco).
Statistically US cities may host a 'disproportionate' and 'more frequent' number of Summer Games because they make up the majority of bids. Of 169 bids to date, 36 (21.3%) were by US cities. The next highest tally are Italian, Spanish and German cities with 9 each. Los Angeles has put in the most bids of any city (9), followed by Detroit (7) and Rome (7).
London's winning re-bid for the 1948 Games (having originally been awarded the cancelled 1944 Games) was against Lausanne and 4 US cities (Baltimore, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Philadelphia).
Helsinki was awarded the 1952 Games against bids by Amsterdam and 5 US cities (Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Philadelphia).
Melbourne 1956 won against bids from Buenos Aires, Mexico City and 6 US cities (Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Philadelphia and San Francisco).
The US have huge influence over the IOC.
Major Olympic events take place at times to suit viewers in the US. It comes down to money. The US buys massive volumes of viewing rights. The reason that Basketball is an Olympic event, and Netball isn't, is essentially down to the US. The US are good at Basketball, and hopeless at Netball, so they won't support Netball as an Olympic sport.
But, for all that, the US haven't hosted a decent Olympics. They are great visitors, but have no credentials as hosts.
LA was boycotted by the CCCP, then the main competitive power.
And Atlanta is generally recognised as the worst Games of the modern era - the fiasco that almost ruined the Olympic movement.
So, they get the Games because of money, and they can afford to bid and bid and bid, but they don't have any track record as reliable hosts.
Major Olympic events take place at times to suit viewers in the US. It comes down to money. The US buys massive volumes of viewing rights. The reason that Basketball is an Olympic event, and Netball isn't, is essentially down to the US. The US are good at Basketball, and hopeless at Netball, so they won't support Netball as an Olympic sport.
But, for all that, the US haven't hosted a decent Olympics. They are great visitors, but have no credentials as hosts.
LA was boycotted by the CCCP, then the main competitive power.
And Atlanta is generally recognised as the worst Games of the modern era - the fiasco that almost ruined the Olympic movement.
So, they get the Games because of money, and they can afford to bid and bid and bid, but they don't have any track record as reliable hosts.
LA was basically the first one run on a commercial footing, and at a profit. (Montreal only paid theirs off a couple of years ago). So the IOC are impressed by US financial acumen, even if Atlanta was rather a mess.
As I understand it, hosts can introduce new events, though I don't know if London did. LA introduced synchronised swimming thanks to agitation by the swimming film star Esther Williams.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esther_Williams
As I understand it, hosts can introduce new events, though I don't know if London did. LA introduced synchronised swimming thanks to agitation by the swimming film star Esther Williams.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esther_Williams
"Major Olympic events take place at times to suit viewers in the US."
No they don't. Except for Seoul 1988 when NBC was able to convince Seoul OCOG to schedule gold-medal finals in the afternoons (coincident with Primetime back in the US) and were shown live, most Games broadcasts have been delayed for US audiences because of unfavourable timezone issues. This tape-delay has been repeated for London 2012 - cf Twitter #NBCfail
"The US... won't support Netball as an Olympic sport."
Since 1896 there was ample opportunity for netball to be a demonstration sport from which it could have made it into the Olympics proper. Not one Host City (US nor Rest of the World) chose to do so. Basketball was a demonstration sport at St. Louis 1904 before making it's fulltime appearance from Berlin 1936 onwards.
Demonstration sports were suspended after Barcelona 1992 although "exhibition competitions" parallel to but outside of the Olympics do appear e.g. Wushu at Beijing 2008.
No they don't. Except for Seoul 1988 when NBC was able to convince Seoul OCOG to schedule gold-medal finals in the afternoons (coincident with Primetime back in the US) and were shown live, most Games broadcasts have been delayed for US audiences because of unfavourable timezone issues. This tape-delay has been repeated for London 2012 - cf Twitter #NBCfail
"The US... won't support Netball as an Olympic sport."
Since 1896 there was ample opportunity for netball to be a demonstration sport from which it could have made it into the Olympics proper. Not one Host City (US nor Rest of the World) chose to do so. Basketball was a demonstration sport at St. Louis 1904 before making it's fulltime appearance from Berlin 1936 onwards.
Demonstration sports were suspended after Barcelona 1992 although "exhibition competitions" parallel to but outside of the Olympics do appear e.g. Wushu at Beijing 2008.
Forgot to add, where I wrote "Since 1896 there was ample opportunity for Netball to be a demonstration sport from which it could have made it into the Olympics proper", Netball (as is the case for every sport) did not meet eligibility criteria for Olympics inclusion until an international governing body was formed. IFNA was created in 1960.
Basketball did not merit inclusion before 1936 because FIBA was not created until 1932.
Basketball did not merit inclusion before 1936 because FIBA was not created until 1932.
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