It's about the money...

[nineveh_uk]

This rant is brought to you by the sort of temper occasioned by being off sick with a cold in August...

So the 2022 Winter Olympics has gone to Beijing rather than Almaty. Or to be precise, rather than to Almaty, Oslo, Stockholm, Krakow, Lviv (the other formal candidate cities), or Sarajevo, Tyrol/Trentino, Nice, Quebec City, Graubünden (Switzerland), Helsinki, Santiago, and the various other places that showed an initial interest.

Out of all of which, the bid has gone to probably the worst possible option except the one in a war zone. Because the only reason, seriously, the only reason the Olympics are going to be in Beijing is because no democratic country could get the ridiculously bloated demands of the IOC past its population.* Norway was the last one in the ring, and Norway withdrew after, among other things, the IOC demanded specific cocktail parties with the king, and total control over all advertising in Oslo for the duration of the event. At which point, and not being prepared to pay for ever-ballooning venue demands, Norway said "Fuck off" to the IOC and the IOC put out some rather juvenile press releases about how Norwegian politicians just didn't understand.

Let's be clear, this was a spectacular own goal on the part of the IOC. Had Oslo been prepared to meet its demands, there was no way the Norwegian bid wouldn't have won. Norway has the weather, mountains, popular enthusiasm for the sports, and the money to make it work. Even the IOC couldn't be sufficiently bribed not to choose it. There was public support, as long as it didn't cost too much and made use of the already existing (fantastic) facilities. It would have been the best Winter Olympics since Lillehammer.** Anyone with half a brain in the IOC ought to have done anything they possibly could for the chance of running the Olympic cross-country skiing events at Holmenkollen, which would have provided the sort of crowds and atmosphere that even they can't buy. Instead, they are going to China, where there will be no snow and no spectators.

And so here we are, with the 2022 Winter Olympics to be held in a place where there is no snow. Seriously. There is less than 1m a year, and they will have to rely entirely on artificial snow-making in a semi-arid area that receives about 15" of rain per year. You don't get a lot of rain out of what's left over when you've used that for such trivialities as drinking, washing, and agriculture.

This is a decision so utterly shit that you would be making a more sensible decision to award the Winter Olympics to any of the following: Beirut, Tehran, Glasgow or Aberdeen. I am not joking. Would it be a good idea to have the Winter Olympics in Beirut? Of course not - but it has more reliable snow and a more developed skiing infrastructure in the vicinity than Beijing does. Tehran has amazing snow just 40 miles away, but it might be a bit short on ice hockey stadia. So, of course, is Beijing. The Scottish mountains have more snow, a great deal more rain for emergency snow-making, are closer to the host cities, and already have the curling rinks. The howling gales might be a problem, but we could put up really big wind-breaks.

I truly cannot convey how absolutely ridiculous this decision is. Even with the European countries gone there was still a reasonable alternative to Beijing. Almaty wouldn't have been perfect (those pesky human rights again), but it was actually a credible bid. Kazakhstan has the (real) snow, the mountains, a winter sports culture, existing facilities, and has been running itself in through hosting the Asian Winter Games and the 2017 Winter Universiade. It might even have cleaned up the smog. It also has the sort of government that could just spend what it took to provide the latest Galaxy tablet for ever IOC official, or whatever they want. This factor obviously being the most important. It's just that the tablets Bejing provides will be even shinier.

Farewell, the Olympic movement! It was nice knowing you.

*And the shopping is better than in Kazakhstan

**Yes, I have a vested interest, because I would definitely have gone.

Comments

[aella_irene]

Oh, damn it.

(Did you see the skit in which John Oliver presented the Last Week Tonight bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics, on the basis that they had just as much snow and just as many mountains as Beijing?)

What the fuck is a seasonal pastry in Oslo in February?

[nineveh_uk]

I have now! That's brilliant.

I'm going to assume it's a herring with vanilla frosting

[aella_irene]

I would have gone, if only to stroke the King Charles spaniel.

Re: I'm going to assume it's a herring with vanilla frosting

[nineveh_uk]

I'd have it as head of state.

Re: I'm going to assume it's a herring with vanilla frosting

[aella_irene]

"He's a good head of state, he's a very good head of state! Would the head of state like a crunchy biscuit? Yes he would."

[caulkhead]

I can see Oslo's point.

But damn. (I don't know that I would have gone to Oslo, but Trentino would have been a possibility. And I would love to see Olympic downhill skiiers coping with heatherhopping in Aviemore).

[nineveh_uk]

Sadly I can't find Alain Baxter's bronze-medal-winning* Salt Lake City slalom on Youtube, when he succeeded due to experience in slushy Scottish conditions.

*Not officially due to being stripped of it after taking American rather than European Vick**, but there's no question that while his exclusion was within the letter of the rules, it was completely out of line with how other sports people had been treated, including by the very same expert witnesses who banned Baxter on behalf of the IOC while allowing American athletes to compete. So I count him in (alternatively I am happy to see the other athletes stripped of their medals).

[tree_and_leaf]

I am still furious about what happened to Alain Baxter.

[nineveh_uk]

It deserves fury.

[azdak.livejournal.com]

*applauds your splendid rant*

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Sometimes one really needs a good rant, and this is certainly a subject with plenty of material.

[alitheapipkin.livejournal.com]

Indeed so, what a moronic decision! And a great shame, I'm a big fan of watching the winter olympics :(

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

It's really disappointing. It could have been brilliant. It could still have been OK. And now it's basically just a commercial festival with a bit of winter sports attached in shit conditions.

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

I'd not followed this... but what utterly corrupt arrogance from the IOC, and what a nonsense this Beijing games might turn out to be.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

It really makes me despair at the future of the Olympics. It is such a stupid decision on every level. Technically, I expect the games will be fine, because the Chinese government will be able to throw money at the problem (the climate is at least cold). But why would you choose this when you might have had Lillehammer II?

[(Anonymous)]

As the choice was Beijing or Almaty, the result was never going to be good. The Olympic committee were idiots to apparently make unreasonable demands to Oslo, but as far as I know, that's what they did.
Lizzzar

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

It's true that by this point the results were never going to be really good - but had the choice been Almaty it really would have been massively better.

[snorkackcatcher]

Consider yourself lucky they didn't award it to Qatar.

[elmey.livejournal.com]

if Qatar didn't have a prior commitment for 2022, they might well have :(

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

They could build a very large fridge!

My only hope for 2026 is that all the countries that could put in credible bids get together and agree that none of them are going to meet the IOC's demands, and that they put in minimalist programmes that would work. But that does require solidarity...

[snorkackcatcher]

Maybe we shouldn't joke about it ...

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

AARGH! Though an Olympic one would need to be more than double the size. Perhaps they could build something in a quarry?

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Qatar have bid for the 2024 Olympics...

[grondfic.livejournal.com]

The decision stinks, doesn't it? Sport generally isn't looking very clean these days.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

It is indeed rancid. In 'fairness' 40 people voted for Almaty, but the real damage was done when they failed to understand that Norway wasn't going to be willing to agree to their every ridiculous demand and they kept shoving in ever more arrogant ones.

[grondfic.livejournal.com]

The decision stinks, doesn't it? Sport generally isn't looking very clean these days.

[sonetka.livejournal.com]

No chance we'll get treated to the sight of the IOC members being frogs-marched out of a hotel while under arrest, is there? After what happened with FIFA, I can always dream :). But good lord, what an atrocious choice. Flipping open an atlas and putting a pin into a city at random would probably have had better results.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

We can but hope!

Flipping open an atlas would also mean that we wouldn't have an upcoming Olympic sequence of Korea - Japan - China, the first time three successive Olympics have been so close in a good while.

[ellid.livejournal.com]

I agree. I give the Olympics until 2028 at the latest. It's become too bloated and expensive and just plain stupid to survive.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I think the summer ones will last longer than the winter, at this rate, simply because they are more prestigious. But not for much longer, if they keep smothering it in greed like this.

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

If they had to have winter olympics in China, why didn't they have them in Harbin? Plenty and plenty of snow there, and all over the northeast. I know that the Chinese (ordinary citizens as well as the government) are desperately insecure about international status markers like Nobel prizes and olympics, but has nobody explained that you can not cheat and still get the prize, because you deserve it? It does happen, from time to time.

I'm as fond of China as any sane person could be, and even to me this doesn't make any sense.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Exactly! If they were in Harbin, I wouldn't object in the same way - I'd still object to the IOC's way of doing business, and that we have a sequence of Olympics that goes Korea - Japan - China, which is not great, but the actual sports part would be fine. But they seem to have put the sports part at the bottom of the list of priorities, and it's just bonkers.