Olympian1010

I can confirm cricket is pretty much invisible in Southern California. The only time I’ve seen people was at my university, and at mother’s alma mater. When it comes to non-Olympic team sports, there is a much larger following for lacrosse and ultimate frisbee.

They also reported Tokyo 2020 would be cancelled in early 2021. Their record on Olympics “exclusives” isn’t great. They might be right here (who knows), but I’ve been burned before by them.

Like Qatar whenever there’s a world championship without a host, I’m ready to bid @OlympicIRL

I believe they are supposed to be. 10,500 was the hard limit as far as I know. Although, there is some reporting suggesting the IOC may allow more than that for 2028.

The race is almost beyond parody at this point. It’s like the organizers took Tour De Pharmacy as an blueprint for success rather than a mockumentary

He ignored it like the IOC.

Imagine they add baseball/softball, cricket, and flag football

Just wait until Helsinki hosts the Olympics in 2052 and includes that as an optional sport

And alienate all of the causal fans that tune in for those sports. Like it or not, those sports do have a pretty active and dedicated following.

Breaking has a lot going for it. It takes very few quotas (32). It can be held in almost any venue, including very public locations. It is different from other artistic sports on the program, given the battle element. It translates very well to television. It also, so far, manages to attract a crowd. It was one of the hottest tickets at The World Games and European Games.

IFAF (along with the NFL) made the most public push. They got players featured at multiple NFL games. They brought players out for promotional events in LA. They tailored the format to work well for television, with rules that mirror many other “short-side” or simplified team sports. I wouldn’t be shocked at all to see them selected.

POV: Me from the back of said queue…

@Griff88if you manage to get any bags through the center you’re already doing better than me

Looking at the entry lists, these Games will be a “mixed-bag” as usual. EBU will serve as host broadcaster, and have created a platform identical to one used during the 2023 European Games. I actually considered traveling to these, but it didn’t work out in the end.

Official website: https://heraklion23.gr Results system: https://live.heraklion23.com Streaming: https://medgames.tv

This race continues to deliver odd moments https://x.com/faustocoppi60/status/1698354852189901008?s=46&t=eeNhSzi4Rylqjvpt-IBinQ

I like what you did for the world championships. I was little to busy then to read through, but it’s fun to look back at those days.

I don’t have a problem with sports having more events than others, so long as they are unique enough to warrant inclusion. People complain about windsurfing and kite-sailing being added in sailing, but they do offer something pretty different from the standard dingy events. Same with lightweight rowing or coastal rowing. Personally, I think it comes down to how athlete quotas are utilized. The IOC has really lacked innovation in this space. You can only limit entries so much before the Olympics starts to lose universality, competitive fields, and general appeal. There needs to be more thought put into policies that affect athlete quotas.

In fairness, the qualification process was quite chaotic with all postponements, cancellations, and events program changes. PanamSports probably has a smaller staff than the IOC for this kind of stuff. Still, you’d expect them to be a bit more on top of quota confirmations.

@intoronto do you have a link to the canoe slalom quotas?

Handball draws: https://twitter.com/PanamSports/status/1697740899575316723?s=20

Lake Tahoe would likely be suitable. However, you run into similar infrastructure issues once again. It is expensive to build in the area, and any major development will be met with resistance from environmental groups, and possibly indigenous groups depending where you are building. The area has also been fire prone in recent years, so you’re dealing with that threat too. There are other possibilities in the Sierras and Siskiyous, but you’re likely going to find similar issues. Lakes prone to drought, resistance from environmental/indigenous/farming groups, and a limited pool of local labor and spectators. Water is a precious resource in California. It might quite literally be “liquid gold” in some ways. There’s hope that some wet years can normalize things, but using housing and water resources to cater to rowing would be highly unpopular in California.

Right, if World Rowing is insistent about rowing being held in the LA Metro Area, then they have to cater to the best/most realistic option we can provide. They could always hold rowing elsewhere, likely outside the state, but that has its own setbacks.

The Olympics shouldn’t displace residents or force host cities to build infrastructure that caters exclusively to the Games. The Olympics should fit within existing infrastructure and have a minimal footprint local residents. I mean…much of controversy around the Olympics has to do with its impacts on host cities. There are some infrastructure changes that can benefit both host cities and the Olympics, such as improved transit lines, reimagined public spaces, and airport modernizations. Removing a bridge that serves mainly residents, just so athletes can row a bit further seems like a change that doesn’t provide public benefit. It also provides more ammunition to people who argue against hosting the Olympics. This is the attitude that left Athens, Rio, and other host cities with vacant White Elephants.

Castaic Lake isn’t really ideal. It’s just a dam, and it got pretty low during the bad drought years. I believe it has recovered much water volume with the unusually wet year we’ve had, but other concerns persist. Lake Perris was the venue originally proposed. It was just far away from other venue clusters, not to mention that lake faces similar pressures when it comes to drought. It would also likely require residential facilities to be constructed. Long Beach Marine Stadium relies mainly on seawater, and it already has a lot of the infrastructure needed (or at least room to build temporary facilities). It will be much closer in proximity to other venue clusters as well. The main downside to the venue is the shortened distance, along with the tidal fluctuations.