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Post by beth on Oct 2, 2009 17:09:03 GMT
Yes! I've been pulling for them from the start. The Olympic games will enhance Rio and the location will certainly give the games a new kick of pizazz. Breaking News6:01pm UK, Friday October 02, 2009 Rio de Janeiro has won the race to host the 2016 Olympics, beating Madrid in the final round of voting. It will be the first time the Games will be held in South America. Nearly 50,000 people erupted in celebration on Copacabana beach when the announcement was made. People jumped and cheered in a Carnival-like atmosphere at the famous Brazilian attraction. The party was expected to go on well into the night, and officials said the crowd would easily surpass 100,000 people. Earlier, Chicago and Tokyo were both eliminated in the race to stage the Games in seven years time. /snip more . . .
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Post by beez0811 on Oct 2, 2009 20:05:47 GMT
I'm happy for them. It will be something new and exciting for the Olympics.
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Post by Ben Lomond on Oct 3, 2009 18:52:17 GMT
Seeing that the games have never been held in South America, the choice of Rio was not really all that much of a surprise. What did surprise me was the early elimination of Chicago. As for Rio, now the hard and very expensive work has to being. When London got the 2012 games, we taxpayers were promised that the total cost would be no more than 3 billion pounds. But already the cost is projected to be over 9 billions, and is still rising!
Sometimes, especially in view of the enormous expense involved, it is hard to remember that the Olympic games are nothing more than a rather large international athletics meeting. Surely, the time cannot be far off when this four yearly junket should be reviewed, and the games given a permanent home. Greece would seem the obvious choice, as they started the whole thing off, and the infrastructure for the games is already in place. Any additional costs could be met pro rata from the competing nations. And if ONE permanent home is not considered fair, then why not a permanent site on each of the continents, with the games circulating to each in turn. Athens for Europe; Beijing for Asia; Sydney(or Melbourne) for Australasia, and Atlanta (or L.A.) for North America. Africa might be a problem, as few nations there have the wherewithal. But South Africa would be the obvious choice.
Just a thought!
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Post by clemiethedog on Oct 10, 2009 14:09:23 GMT
This is good news for Brazil and Rio. For anyone interested in sports trivia, one of the greatest soccer players of all-time, if not the best, is from Brazil. Pele. I think it would be a great honor for him to light the torch. Pele led Brazil to the 1970 World Cup championship.
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