Toronto 2008 Olympics: A city that might have been

[Hydrogen]

Then again, the waterfront could have been left dotted with much larger versions of the late Olympic Spirit facility.

 

[EnviroTO]

The reason Beijing won was because they convinced the IOC they were capable, they have a population of over a billion people, and have never hosted the games. We had the better bid but being a smaller country which has already hosted hurt our chances. The Olympic Summer Games have only been held in Asia twice. London won 2012 because it was up against countries which had all hosted before and showed the IOC it could be a successful host. Post bribery scandal I think we will see that new entrants which prove technically capable of hosting (financial certainty, political stability, and adequate audience size) will have a leg up on the competition.

 

[scarberiankhatru]

The Beijing games were also a reward for China breaking onto the world sports scene less than 20 years earlier, helping to break up the US/Russia stranglehold on the podium. The Olympics and legacies go hand in hand; makes me think India would be a shoo-in if only they had a safe modern city to host it in...or the ability to build one. Those billions in India and China people are all potential athletes and potential TV viewers.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

FM:

You should check the Vol 3, Theme 14 Transportation of the bid book again. The Gardiner is clearly intended to be used as one of the key transportation routes.

re: stadium

Like I've said, the figures for seating did fluctuate - and probably will if Toronto got the bid. Beijing changed theirs from about 60K in the bid book to 100K and then back to about 90K as it is built now.

Don't get me wrong, I do think that the Olympics would have been a great catalyst - but since we didn't get it, one can take solace in the fact that the slower progress on the waterfront also meant a more polished end-product.

AoD

 

[jn_12]

London won 2012 because it was up against countries which had all hosted before and showed the IOC it could be a successful host. Post bribery scandal I think we will see that new entrants which prove technically capable of hosting (financial certainty, political stability, and adequate audience size) will have a leg up on the competition.

London hosted the games before. If whether you've hosted or not is the criteria then most of the great cities in the western world would be wasting their time with bids. I don't think the IOC cares how many times Canada has hosted the games, because only two years later they gave them to Vancouver.

 

[smuncky]

london has had the games 3 times already. the USA has had them 4 times. and now that chicago seems to be the frontrunner as mentioned here before, it would make the US a host nation 5 times.

looking through wikipedia, one interesting thing i found was about who bid and who won the olympics between 1972 and 1984.

there's a nice pattern going on.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bids_for_Olympic_Games

 

[Woodbridge_Heights]

If Chicago doesn't get the 2016 bid does anyone think New York is likely to get the Olympics in 2024 on the 400'th anniversary of it's settlement?

 

[scarberiankhatru]

If Chicago doesn't get the 2016 bid does anyone think New York is likely to get the Olympics in 2024 on the 400'th anniversary of it's settlement?

If they didn't give the games to Athens on the 100th anniversary of the Olympics, then, no.

 

[Hipster Duck]

FM:

Don't get me wrong, I do think that the Olympics would have been a great catalyst - but since we didn't get it, one can take solace in the fact that the slower progress on the waterfront also meant a more polished end-product.

AoD

Not to mention that our waterfront might end up getting filled with things people can own and cherish, like condos and schools and offices and shops, as opposed to monumental white elephants

 

[scarberiankhatru]

Are there any maps of where all the Olympic sites/improvement projects would have been located?

Our waterfront also might get filled up with Corus office buildings and cement campi...wait, did I say might?

 

[toforumer]

Well I got the bid book scarberian. I can cut out the pictures and post them. The renderings were really nice and the waterfront beautiful.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

It's all online:

http://ontour2001.tripod.com/bidlibrary/id9.html

AoD

 

[toforumer]

Here are the main pictures of renderings from the bid book to save peoples time unless they want to read through the whole book.

Olympic Stadium

View of the Olympic Village, Olympic Park and the Stadium. I just loved the idea of having the Rowing events right infront of the Olympic Stadium. That would have been simply amazing to watch.

Olympic Village View

Olympic Village facing Lake Ontario

Arial View of Private Olympic Beach

View of Olympic Waterfront looking West

Hope you guys enjoy the pictures. What Toronto could have been now.

 

[jn_12]

Not to mention that our waterfront might end up getting filled with things people can own and cherish, like condos and schools and offices and shops, as opposed to monumental white elephants

That's one building from one olympics. The notion that simply because one city made one poor decision, that we would be left in the same predicament is ridiculous. Fact is that most Olympics leave very good legacies, and if we leave the Olympic Stadium out of the argument, the Olympics were great for Montreal as well. Also, there have been a dozen Olympics since Montreal and every one of them has been able to learn from the last. There's no reason to assume that we wouldn't have continued the pattern.

Tofurumer: Thanks for posting those pictures. It really helps display the difference between what might have been and what we have now.

 

[toforumer]

Here's some more:

Olympic Aquatic Centre

Olympic Archery Centre

Olympic Regatta Centre

Olympic Veledrome

Modern Pentathlon Equestrian Stadium