So does this mean they will have to surface the courts? Olympic regs require an artificial surface for tennis. Wimbledon is the venue but I haven't been able to pull up the bid book because the London site is swamped right now (wonder why).

San Francisco, in my opinion, had a much stronger U.S. bid and if not for 9-11, would have recieved the U.S. bid.

I read an article earlier that said the U.S. becomes a frontrunner for the 2016 Olympics while Africa has the heads up for 2020. The article seemed to hint that Paris is out of the running for quite some time.

I'd say it likely that San Francisco, Chicago and New York will each bid again. I still think a San Francisco Olympics would be incredible.

My bet is that the next time the US hosts, the games will be in the northeast. New York, Washington, Philadelphia or Boston, with New York being the most likely candidate. The economics of the games are, more than ever, tied to TV revenue. An east coast games would mean that the TV audience of all of the Americas and most of Europe and Africa would be within 6 hours' time difference (mid-day events in NYC would be in prime time in the European TV market).

In any event, I don't see the US hosting the summer games again till 2020 at the earliest, and even later if we host a winter games in the interim (2018, maybe). I could see 2016 going either to Africa (Cape Town) or South America (Buenos Aires).

I think the US is the favorite for a 2016 Olympics. Right now the African continent has commissioned a study regarding the feasibility of an African nation hosting the Olympics in 2020. They feel 2016 is too soon for them. I agree that an Olympics on the African continent would be a favorite choice when they're ready. After all, Athens hosted an incredible games and no one ever thought they could pull it off.

2016 would be 20 years since the US has hosted the Summer Games (Atlanta 1996). Los Angeles has been rumored as a favorite but I think SF is still in the running. Unless NY gets their stadium issues worked out I think the USOC would be hesitant to give them Candidate City.

Los Angeles has all the infrastructure ready for the games. Transit would be their biggest challenge. The IOC is leaning more towards cities with good public transit systems. They realize moving the masses through a large city with increased security can be the biggest challenge for the Games.

How ironic is this, given the events this morning in London?

I'm not sure how to comment on that. As I was writing the comment I was watching the news from London. My heart and prayers go out to Londoners who, as is the case in every terrorist attack, are the innocents that just want to enjoy life, work and play. Hopefully those responsible will be brought to justice.

That being said, I think Athens handled the situation very well. Even in the months prior to the games, Athens police were always present at stations and on trains. Athenians, even in their nonchalant ways, were aware of situations and helped maintain diligence.

I'm sure Beijing will be hard to judge against, considering the police presence in the city. Torino and Vancouver will be better cities to judge what changes transit will have to make to insure security of spectators.

I'm glad the Games have come back to Asia. I believe that Beijing will run a very efficient Olympic Games. It's all about national pride over there. I do wonder how China's record on civil rights will be covered. That will be interesting. Anyway, the only stud I'll be looking for over there is Marion Dragalescu! Hopefully he makes the Romanian team that year.

If the U.S.A. is going to go about the attempt to improve the environment and quality of a city that is large enough to host an Olympics... I would think selecting a city in the Midwest would be a nice choice.

I would be in support of Chicago being an excellent choice for the Olympics for 2016

Actually Bobby, odds are Londoners will be celebrating the 60 year Jubilee of Elizabeth II's reign.

Err... no they don't. Sorry. 2012 will be the first Olympics in a long time to have grass-court tennis, but that's just because Britain is the only place that still goes in for playing on grass at championship level. This link is for a press conference with the chairman of the Club, where he discusses this.