As America digests the news that Chicago won’t be holding the Olympics, the right has reacted with unbridled joy, while other commentators just seem dumbfounded. I especially like Politico’s roundup, which claims that “veteran Olympic watchers” have been left stunned by the decision.
This claim rests on quotes from Olympic historian, Bill Mallon who grumbles about the voting procedure, suggests with a straight face that the IOC should be remodelled on the US Congress, and puts the whole thing down to anti-Americanism.
If the U.S. president, who is universally recognized as the most powerful person on the face of the earth, comes to their meeting and entreats them to give him the games to his own home city, which has by far the best bid, and they turn around and say not only are we not going to give you the games, but you finish last – that reveals that they’re so euro-centric and international-centric, it’s ridiculous.
Leaving aside the ongoing, and bizarre, insecurity about Europe, d0 we really have to apologize for the International Olympic Committee not acting as an extension of American power?
(Especially, when Obama told delegates “We stand at a moment in history when the fate of each nation is inextricably linked to the fate of all nations — a time of common challenges that require common effort.”)
Unfortunately, we have more of this whingeing to look forward to. The United States has had two Olympics since 1984 – with the second, in Atlanta, widely recognised at the worst games in recent times. Now, angered at not having hosted a World Cup (soccer, for American readers – you know, the sport kids play) since 1994, the US is bidding for the 2018 or 2022 championships. Obama, Disney and even Henry Kissinger (!) have been lined up in support.
The decision is due in December, just as the Copenhagen climate summit will be in full swing. Maybe the United States should throw major sporting events into the climate negotiating pot: “every time you don’t let us have an Olympics or World Cup, then another small island state will be left to drown…”
Update: Here’s an interesting wrinkle on yesterday’s decision:
In the official question-and-answer session following the Chicago presentation, Syed Shahid Ali, an I.O.C. member from Pakistan, asked how smooth it would be for foreigners to enter the United States for the Olympics because doing so can sometimes, he said, be “a rather harrowing experience.”
Update II: On Twitter, Newsline journalist, Nadir Hussein points me to this analysis by stats guru, Nate Silver, which attempts to flesh out the idea that the IOC is institutionally biased against the USA.
Silver has a phenomenal, and well-deserved, reputation, but in this case, his allegiance to Chicago (his home town) seems to have clouded his judgement. Silver believes that, because the USA is richer and better at sport than the rest of the world (and has lots of fine citizens, to boot), it should have twenty delegates rather than two.
This, he believes, would have cast out Rio in the first round and left Chicago to take the crown. One problem. Delegates are not allowed to vote while their country is still in the running. So give the USA 2, 20 or 200 votes and it wouldn’t matter a jot – unless the rules are also changed to allow the USA to vote for itself.
(Silver also points approvingly to FIFA’s policy of rotating the World Cup around continents – a policy that was dropped in 2007.)
One of Silver’s commenters cracks it:
Squaw Valley held Winter Games in 1960. Mexico City held Summer Games in 1968. Montreal (Summer Games) in 1976. Lake Placid held Winter Games in 1980. Los Angeles (Summer Games) in 1984. Calgary (Winter Games) in 1988. Atlanta (Summer Games) in 1996. Salt Lake City (Winter Games) in 2002. And Vancouver will hold Winter Games in 2010. So in a span of 14 Olympiads, there have been (or will have been) 9 Olympiads held in North America.
But, guys, don’t let this stop you feeling hard done by….
Update III. Relatedly, let’s remember how the US won the Beijing Olympics.
