Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and a group of local business and sports nabobs are going to aanounce that Los Angeles, site of the 1932 and 1984 Summer Games, will launch a campaign for the 2016 Summer Olympics. Other US cities expected to make bids to the USOC are Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington. I was a volunteer in '84 (spent a lot of time offering instructions on getting around town) and will do it again if LA gets the Games.

And to think, it's just a mere 11 years down the road...

~Adam

Man, I'm jealous. LA will probably do a much better job than NY at putting together a viable bid. I was really hoping that I'd be able to the Olympics in my hometown, but I doubt it will happen in my lifetime.

New York's not committing to anything right now. From what I have read, they are still so disappointed from not getting the 2012 games that it is too soon for the City to decide on going after a 2016 bid. While many thought that New York actually gave the best presentation, the IOC said that New York ranked the lowest in public support amongst the five finalists. Los Angeles is the Olympics darling. The City basically revitalized the Olympic Games in 1984 after the 1980 Moscow disaster. In addition, Los Angeles was practically ready to take over immediately if 2004 Athens fell through. Still, it's tough to see the greatest city in the world (sorry, biased New York-native here) not get the opportunity the host just once in our lifetime.

Incidentally, when Pat125 and I were in Antwerp in January, we looked and looked for the old stadium or even a marker to get a little history of 1920 games. Montreal has a nice tour that marks its place in history in 1976. However, we could not find a damn thing when we were in Antwerp. I checked and checked on the web before we left and couldn't find a thing. Was everything destroyed in the second war? If there are any Belgian OutSporters out there, I would love to know what happened to the stadium.


The old stadium in Antwerp

[ September 14, 2005, 03:30 PM: Message edited by: Cattledog ]

The Olympisch Stadion built for the 1920 Antwerp games still exists. It is currently the home field of the KFC Germinal Beerschot football (soccer) club which plays in the Belgian First Division.

Damn! I should have posted this back in January. I couldn't find it anywhere on the map, and it seemed like we walked hours around Antwerp.

Wow this is great. I would love the Olympics to be in LA 2016. Although I live near SF, I seriously don't think it will go there. Its too crowded, several sports do not have their ideal conditions, and this bay area doesn't seem to care about olympic sports. They have their baseball and football teams to worry about more.
I was dissapointed that New York didn't win 2012, but the citizens didn't seem to care at all.

Los Angeles remains in the running to be the US nominee for the 2016 games. Today, the USOC dropped Houston and Philadelphia from the competition (though I'm sure Paula Abdul loved them both and Randy Jackson called them both "dawg) leaving Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago as possibilities.

~Adam

Ah yes,

The summer of 1984. The city was buzzing w/ foreigners (who can forget the Italian players!), I was enrolling for my 1st semester at USC & I had finally left my fundamentalist life for good. Nothing but great change as I can remember. If LA gets the bid, hopefully fate will have some dramatic changes in store for me once more!

Edited for the following:

Although late, I discovered for the 1st time who Boy George was, specifically his smooth voice.

[ July 27, 2006, 01:30 PM: Message edited by: SCTrojan ]

People in Chicago are psyched that "their kind of town" is still in the running, and there seems to be a common, if understated, recognition that the Gay Games helped them in this regard. For that reason alone, the Games deserve thanks and credit.

I heard that the three US finalists were San Francisco, Chicago and New York. Was that report wrong?

On July 26, 2006, USOC officially named San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago as the three US finalists for the 2016 Olympics, dropping Philadelphia and Houston. However, the comittee still has not decided whether to pursue an international bid for a US city. That decision will be made by the end of 2006. If decided to move foward, the official US city will be named in March of 2007.

From wiki's 2016 Summer Olympics

[Edited to Add]

Of course Wiki is reader-edited and have mades some mistakes in the past.

[ July 27, 2006, 03:33 PM: Message edited by: Maddog ]

I root for Chicago...

Me too! It would be killer and SUCH a boost for the Windy City. But have the sailing events across the lake in Michigan City, like they did when Indianapolis hosted the Pan Am games back in '87 or so. Better conditions all around!

According to Argus Hamilton, if we believe everything Al Gore has in his movie, then the only logical choice has to be Chicago. LA and SF will be under water by then.

UCLAfan,

I better double-check my flood insurance.

But that makes Los Angeles perfect for the swimming, diving, water polo, and the all-important synchronized swimming. Even my old sport--the steeplechase--would benefit!

~Adam

Looks like SF might pull out if they can't come through with USOC requirements. According to Gamesbid.com Mayor Newsome doesn't want to promise more than SF can deliver.

The biggest hang-up with the USOC is the use of NFL stadiums for Opening and Closing Ceremonies. That was their beef in Chicago and apparently it carried to the site visit to SF. I don't know if the USOC feels that the recent work in Athens and in Beijing are setting a bar too high but they apparently would prefer something more.

Based on the LA initial report it looks like LA is the odds-on favorite for U.S. Candidate City.

For starters, San Francisco should've never made the list. The public transportation system sucks! The MUNI system alone should have disqualified us. I can think of many more reasons not to have it here.

I'm personally pulling for LA or Chicago.

I would have loved to see SF get the games

but Newsom is doing the right thing in pulling out if he doesn't think that the city can give the USOC everything they want

I don't want to see LA get the games AGAIN and I can't imagine a worse spot than Chicago

Why doesn't Moscow want another Olympics? It would really give the Russians a boost, unlike last time.

San Francisco has dropped out of the 2016 bidding process since the 49ers have decided to go to Santa Clara to get a new stadium.

words fail to express how I feel about the 49ers management right now

actually I do have words but those words would get this post censored and rightly so

At least SF had the wisdom to drop the bid instead of pushing ahead like NYC did after the stadium deal fell through. Bidding the Olympics has become such an expensive venture it's in a city's best interest to pull out and stop throwing money down the drain to win the bid.

Based on what I see in the Games buzz LA is the odds on favorite. They have the most infrastructure in place and the experience of hosting the Games.

If hosting duties for 2016 are supposed to belong to the Americas, I would be putting my money on any city outside the US. Los Angeles has the experience, but I think the IOC would prefer to chart new territory. Toronto is unlikely given Vancouver in 2010, but if Buenos Aires or Rio de Janeiro assemble decent bids, either one would probably be a shoe-in. I also heard that Santiago, Chile is considering a bid as is Monterey, Mexico.