Click here to view this site's accessibility statement.
Patrick said on July 6th, 2005 at 9:57 pm :
Being English I am also surprised that London won… However I don’t think that the polls you have really reflect reality. First of all it is a fact that it was neither the population of paris or london that wanted the bid the most but it was the people of madrid. Secondly i live basically … 20 meters away from where the olympic village was supposed to be, and i assure you that i have a clear view that not all parisians were in favour of the olympics, as today a group of people got into the construction site and tried to ransack the place, Anti-rioting troups were needed to stop futher distruction. And apparently it was the presentation that tilted the balance from paris to london. I don’t understand your comment of “maybe because of the English ?” if your reffering to corruption, trust me there is a far bigger deal of it in France than England. anyways congratulations on your IB (even if i don’t know your score, but i’m sure its pretty high) and just to let you know i also got what i needed ;) thank god its all over and have a nice time in the states.
Kines said on July 6th, 2005 at 11:35 pm :
It’s what I heard on RFI, so I dunno. Maybe their stats are dubious. “Maybe because of the English” referred to the English language, as it would definitely make things easier if the host country had a language that a lot of people could cope with, both on a mercantile and on a touristic aspect.
As for my IB score, I’m pretty disappointed, given that my TOK and Extended Essay grades were less than satisfactory, and my math score was pretty much failing. I’m glad, however, Patrick, that you got what you needed, and I wish you the best and the greatest of success in whatever you may pursue.
said on July 8th, 2005 at 9:36 am :
I for one was hoping for Paris to win, it would have been an amazing Olympic games if it had. The promise of Volleyball under the Eiffel Tower was enough for me!
However, I wonder if the English proposal to build on entirely new stadium swayed the voting, Paris was just going to use the Stade de France, which while enormous and beautifully built may not have been ideal for such an event.
The language shouldn’t really have been an issue, I mean Greece would have spoken less English than the Parisiens, and despite the famed French reluctance to speak English, I’m sure that this would have been shelved for the games. Let’s not forget also that French is the official language for the games!
In any case, it is a pity, and we will hopefully see the games in Paris another time.
I'm entirely disappointed.
I think Londoners were more surprised than Parisians over their successful candidacy in the bid for the 2012 Olympics. The deception and dismay, however, here in Paris is clear. I've never felt such pall and dissapointment in the city, and it's almost electric. With 70% of Londoners in comparison to 90% of Parisians favouring the Olympics in their respective cities, it's relatively evident that Londoners were less confident about being able to host the Olympics. After all, the British government "shelved plans to build a new stadium in London in October 2001" [] most probably because of infrastructure incapabilities. And with a relatively unreliable and congested subway system, it makes me wonder why the 's 99 eligible voters could end up choosing London 3 out of the 5 rounds of voting. Maybe because of the English?
I just don't understand why, and I hate that.
It might be strange that I should feel this way, given that I'm not even Parisian, but if you live here and see the amount of effort put into the bid, the colorful banners and stickers that are up wherever you go, the when the Champs Elysées was transformed into one bid stadium, then you'll understand why I share this dissapointment...
This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 6th, 2005 at 6:39 pm, EST under the category of Uncategorized. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.