| Politics of Sports |
7 July 2003
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Vancouver's Olympic Success Won't Hurt New York's Bid
The International Olympic Committee selected the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada as the site for the 2010 Winter Games. Salzburg, Austria and Pyeongchang, South Korea lost in their bids to host the games after what Canada's Prime Minister Jean Chretien called "a photo finish." Many are now saying that this virtually destroys the chances of New York hosting the 2012 Summer Games since North America won't get the games back-to-back. The facts suggest that anti-Americanism is a more likely reason should the Big Apple's bid fail.
The argument that the IOC goes by Muggin's turn in selecting sites falls to the ground with the very next pairing. Athens, Greece (which hosted the very first modern Olympiad in 1896 as well as inventing an earlier version) will stage the 2004 Summer games, and Turin, Italy will welcome the world to the Italian Alps for the 2006 games. Earlier continental pairings include St. Moritz, Switzerland and London, England in 1948; Helsinki, Finland and Oslo, Norway in 1952; and Barcelona, Spain and Albertville, France in 1992 (with Lillehammer, Norway in 1994 when the Winter Games moved their time table). And of course the Nazi Games of 1936 were in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in the winter and Berlin in the summer.
New York's bid really hinges on two factors. The first is the city itself, which during the summer can either be a humid hothouse and unpleasant to even contemplate, or a toasty yet tolerable place. The infrastructure can be upgraded and the facilities exist for most of the sports. London, Madrid, Moscow and Paris also have climate and facility issues in their competing bids. This is the level on which the games should be awarded.
The other factor is whether American political policy will adversely affect sporting decisions. There are some who wrongly believe that a New York games would be an unpalatable victory for American imperialism (or for that matter than the US should boycott Paris-based games because of that nation's unwillingness to kill Iraqis).
Of course, awarding the games to New York assures that the chants of "USA! USA! USA!" are louder than if the games were in Europe. Taking pride in the accomplishments of one's fellow citizen's is one thing, mindless nationalism posing as patriotism is quite another -- the sort of thing English soccer hooligans do better than anyone, but American fools are giving them a run for their money.