Yay!
The 2012 Olympic Games will be held in London after its bid was chosen ahead of Paris (
).
London won a two-way battle against Paris at the IOC vote in Singapore, after bids from Moscow, New York and Madrid were eliminated.
Paris had been favourites throughout the campaign but London's hopes were raised after an impressive presentation by Lord Coe, the bid chairman.
IOC president Jacques Rogge made the dramatic announcement at 1249 BST.
Tension had filled the air as crowds gathered in both capital cities to await the verdict - outside the Hotel de Ville in Paris, and at a pre-planned 'party' in Trafalgar Square respectively.
It will be the first time the Olympics has been held in Britain since 1948.
What do the rest of you think about this decision, and do you think they were right?
I think they made the right decision. Paris always gets the main sporting events. And only yesterday. Chirac was shown London and he had to find fault with everything. For, example, the way we eat. I think England needed a good moral boost andn this should do it. Lets hope it improves public transport.
' What is the similarity between Sonic and Britain? '
Answer: They'd die for some rings...
Okay, so it was awful, but it WAS made up on teh spot. :3
As for the celebrations - YAAAAAAY, 2012 is our year, world. XD
Huzzah for Britain!
Us New Yorkers get to cry our little eyes out now. 
Oh well there's always 2016....
This means that for the next six years, money's gonna be spent on nothing bu Olymics stuff.
STOP COMPLAINING.
This goes out to all the other candidate cities that were so unfortunate...
I had my hopes up, and they were not disappointed. Roll on 2012! Now, to decide the opening act...
Good for Britian. I don't mind seeing the Olympics in Britian, especially since we States get the Olympics almost every other year or so...
We still win the most medals but considering China and Russia are teaming up...that may not be the case...and we can't underestimate the home team...
I don't se why we should be celebrating geting one of the biggest white elephants of an event on the planet.
Our transport system's crumbling (especially in London), our schools're in the middle of a funding crisis, our health service resembles something from the Third World...
To say nothing of the fact that there'll be even more government forgetfulness that there's sentient life north of Watford than usual, just how many textbooks could we buy or nurses could we train with the amount of cash that this is going to cost? We don't even know the final figure yet!
It all just smack of another one of Blair's "bread and circuses" vanity projects. And why the heck should it take one of those for him to upgrade public services in the way he should be doing anyway, but for everywhere?
*stalks off, shaking head in disbelief*
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' What is the similarity between Sonic and Britain? '
Answer: They'd die for some rings...
Okay, so it was awful, but it WAS made up on teh spot. :3
As for the celebrations - YAAAAAAY, 2012 is our year, world. XD
Huzzah for Britain!
XD I liked it. >_> Anywho Lucky London eh.
Amen @ Sam. It's basically the same situation here in BC -- everyone is being forced to eat the cost for a two-week party for politicans and rich people. It's not like all the empoverished Indians in Fort Nelson are going to put down their huffing bags, drive for 20 hours, and join hands with the smiling crack addicts from Surrey and revel in all the shorterm economic stimulation Fuhrer Campbell has graciously set up for us. Anyone who doesn't operate a business that would benefit from tourism is pretty much screwed. The average British Columbian's participation in the 2010 Olympics will consist of putting up with health and education cutbacks, paying for a ten-mile, billion-dollar rapid-transit line from Richmond to downtown Vancouver, and watching the thing on TV. It might as well be in Timbuktu.
It's all a sham. The thing'll just cost us a huge pile of money and drive real-estate costs up even further. Meanwhile the healthcare system is so neglected that we've got people waiting eighteen months for hip replacements, schools are so cash-strapped that IT teachers have to teach decade-old C++, teachers haven't had a contract since 2002, unionized public workers are literally being arrested for striking, the minimum wage is lower than it was twenty years ago, panhandling is an arrestable offense, university tuition fees are so high that people are starting to look to the States for schooling, and housing costs are so high that we've got 250-square-foot walk-in closets with asking prices in excess of 300 grand. Eugh.
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I don't se why we should be celebrating geting one of the biggest white elephants of an event on the planet.
Well, I've read your post and you're missing something of WHY we have it here. SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO. We've got total crap... Then something appears from the "light", the Olympics.
Personally i'm happy that it is happening. It is for morale reasons. All the time i watch the news, or read the paper, is something depressing such as thugs killing innocent people or whatnot, so to host the greatest sporting event ever is something to look forward to. I always find the Olympics very interesting, and it will be something very good to look forward to.
Look at how people come together in unity when something like the World Cup happens - imagine that unity quadrupled when we have the Olympics on our doorstep. Is that such a bad thing?
Its worth having 6 months where Londons a nogo zone just to see all the annoyed french people the news channels keep interviewing...
"I am very angry," screamed this one woman at the camera, and despite how angry she looked I burst out laughing at her.
I dont think I've grinned so much in one day for months, and after what Chirac said yesterday.
"You cant trust anybody who cooks like the British do,"
NOW THAT is below the belt.
Well, I still say congratulations. With the problems New York was having in <i>thinking</i> about <i>maybe</i> getting a new stadium that costs too much, it's a surprise we got so far in the proceedings. xx;
Anyways.....congrats. 
Quote:Swifthom
""You cant trust anybody who cooks like the British do,"
NOW THAT is below the belt."
Meh, french cooking isn't that great, especially the portions. But man, I can't wait fot the Olympics to arrive, France has officially been served.
It's all Chirac's fault. At the G8 he told Tony Blair and George Bush that the only people who cook worse than the British are the Finns. There are two Finnish judges and at least one British judge on the IOC panel. France lost by four votes.
I bet NYC's happy. I heard the citizenry didn't want 'em.
Oh well. I also heard London's gonna revamp the East End...whazzat?
I also heard London's gonna revamp the East End...whazzat?
It's bulls--t, that's what.
I don't understand France's attitude especially when the badmouthed Britian and Finland (Who had two voters on the Olympic board...oppsie!)
I don't understand France's attitude especially when the badmouthed Britian and Finland
Um, Chirac did that. When Bush does or says something, does it mean everyone in the States did it? No.
Actually, Cyke, if they don't make good on doing something with the East End, there won't be anywhere to put the games. The proposed site is just a wasteland right now.
Sorry Cyc but it wasn't just Chirac (Man someone needs to just punch him in the mouth...opps, did I say that aloud? )...a lot of French have that cocky attitude toward Britian, not all mind you...
As I said, you should of seen the interviews with the french people who were SOO angry...
One bloke pretty much said, "I think the judges have been bribed, why would anyone want the Olympic games in a dump like that?"
You should hold ze Olypics in France
I see, and why?
We don't have to explain ourzelves to you! *throws wine in judges face*
/simpons
That's a right-wing American point of view, and the right-wing Americans and the French clash quite drastically at times. I expect they're just disappointed because of the vast amount of money they're missing out on.
Did you even read this thread Harley?!
To say nothing of the fact that there'll be even more government forgetfulness that there's sentient life north of Watford than usual, just how many textbooks could we buy or nurses could we train with the amount of cash that this is going to cost? We don't even know the final figure yet!
I guess the olympics will be something to cover up all those problems and make this country look good.
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Did you even read this thread Harley?!
Does it matter?
Yes it does matter J-man...
...for MY ego that is...
Get off my back, torn! This thread doesn't seem to be about how Britain's won the Olympics any more, but how France is reacting. And their reaction is dissappointment on a country wide scale.
If France had gotten the Olympics I'm sure there'd be some people in Britain who;d be sulking pretty hard now.
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That's a right-wing American point of view, and the right-wing Americans and the French clash quite drastically at times. I expect they're just disappointed because of the vast amount of money they're missing out on.
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I bet NYC's happy. I heard the citizenry didn't want 'em.
I don't think it's so much that people didn't want it, they just didn't care. I'm from the suburbs of NYC, and I personally didn't care whether NYC got it or not. Sure, some strongly wanted it and some strongly didn't want it, but I think the prevailing attitude was more of indifference. I do think Mayor Bloomberg with his insistence that a stadium be built in Manhattan (which is something many people didn't want, they said to build it in Queens--and in June politicians that want to be re-elected again effectively killed any chance for a stadium in Manhattan) for such a long time did hurt the bid. I still find it ironic that one of the other knocks (though supposedly small) against the NYC bid was that "the world hates Bush." When I heard that, I was thinking, "ummm, most of NYC hates Bush and they're possibly being penalized for agreeing with the majority of the world--irony."
To those that are happy London got it, hopefully it'll be as good as you hope. To those that aren't happy London got it, hopefully it won't be as burdensome as it might be.
