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[openforum]

 I strongly feel that we should try and bid for a different city than the metros and help develop infrastructure of an upcoming city - please post your opinions and your choice of cities

I know there are cons with developing new grounds etc (as suggested in a recent article), like the lack of maintainance but on the bright side it'll help develop the city even if the sporting infrastructure is neglected later..


http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/007200704290323.htm
New Delhi, April 29 (PTI): Undeterred by their failure to win the 2014 Asian Games bid, the Indian Olympic Association on Saturday announced that New Delhi will bid for the rights to host the 2020 Olympic Games.

The IOA president Suresh Kalmadi said India withdrew its proposal to bid for the 2016 Olympic Games following its failed 2014 Asian Games bid last week but would be in race for the 2020 edition.

"New Delhi will bid for the 2020 Olympic Games," he said during the inauguration of the 'Olympic Bhawan' here.

As the bid will open in 2011, Kalmadi said the IOA would begin its preparation for the bid immediately after the 2010 Commonwealth Games were over.

"We will start our preparations as soon as the 2010 Commonwealth Games are over," he said and added that there was no knowledge about who could be their probable competitors.

Kalmadi also said that India had little chance to get the bid for staging the 2016 as Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro was a favourite to win it.

"Brazil are the favorites to win the 2016 Olympics," he said.

[vincent]

Which Town or City is not relevant. The KEY QUESTION is "Is India qualified to stage Olympics at all"?.

Here is what I think why India should qualify to stage 2020 Olympics:

Our President Kalam has been propagating the idea that India should become a developped nation by 2020. It is a great idea and a great goal which unfortunately is not reflected by politicians since they do not have his intellect. Technically, it is impossible for us to become a developed nation by that time since it would mean a GDP per capita of 10,000$ or more. But it would be a gateway or a starting block. Look at what happened before:

- In 1956, Australia organized its first Olympics and thus announced its arrival on the world scene (apart from Cricket).

- In 1964 Japan - which was ignored by the western world till that time - organized its Olympics and announced its serious entry into the world of business.

- In 1988 South Korea organized its Olympics and since then has been a world economic power.

- In 2008, China will do the same and and announce its entry as a great political and economic super power.

So, in 2020 it may not be too early for India.

Or is it?

In my view, one should not organize Olympics in a country which does not have any respect or following for Athletics or any Olympic sport. And, if you organize, you need to aim for winning at least 20 medals - of any color - in those games, as a host. Even a tiny country like Greece did so well during last Olympics. In order to win 20 Medals in 2020, we need to start today with our young people and kids and have appropriate infrastructure and professional support - and no politics and bureaucrats. That means also that we need to aim to win about 10 Medals in the Olympics of 2016 and before that at least 5 medals in 2012 and probably at least 3 in 2008!!! Because, miracles do not happen. They need to be planned and nurtured.

Are we there? I do not think so.

[openforum]

Nice breakup vincent..
   I think those(the progression of medals) are realistic goals and hopefully things will be implemented as the PM says (he spoke about making sports an important part of the cirriculum throughout the country)...

But my point is IF we bid, should we go with the same city again and again and again or should we try to use the opportunity to improve a smaller city...

[vincent]

Well, there is a reason for holding Olympics in a big city. It is not just the sporting infrastructure. There have to be plenty of Hotels to accomopdate millions of visitors..(though not the ultra-expensive ones like in Delhi). Even the Olympic Village to accomodate 5-6000 athletes needs to be reused for housing city residents after the event. International Airport,Metro, multi-national cuisine,cultural events, night life, tourist attractions etc are a must. Even Delhi is not perfect since it is far from the Sea where Sailing events are held. But if you organize it in a place like say Pondicherry or Vizag or Jaipur or Cuttack, there would be total chaos. I do agree with you on the point of developping a new city...

[openforum]

Well, there is a reason for holding Olympics in a big city. It is not just the sporting infrastructure. There have to be plenty of Hotels to accomopdate millions of visitors..(though not the ultra-expensive ones like in Delhi). Even the Olympic Village to accomodate 5-6000 athletes needs to be reused for housing city residents after the event. International Airport,Metro, multi-national cuisine,cultural events, night life, tourist attractions etc are a must. Even Delhi is not perfect since it is far from the Sea where Sailing events are held. But if you organize it in a place like say Pondicherry or Vizag or Jaipur or Cuttack, there would be total chaos. I do agree with you on the point of developping a new city...

Actually what you said is very right, if i remember right some car industry (proton or VW i guess) refused vizag because it doesn't have enough hotels and nightlife (there were also a scandal in the same matter which can be a separate thread).

I agree all those things are needed in a city for the olympics.. but instead of saying {F} is needed for {O} to happen and hence choose a city with {F}, we can say since {F} is needed for {O} we will make city X have {F} before we bid and let X grow with the established facilities later.. kind of like Atlanta in 1996.

On a separate note, I didn't know that we need the sea for sailing events, won't a big lake do?

Can you think of any cities for nominating? I will add pondicherry and cuttack to the following list
Cities with 1-3 million population (2001 census source:wikipedia)
GUJRAT:
Surat - 2,811,614
Rajkot - 1,003,015
Vadodara - 1,491,045


UP:
Kanpur -  2,715,555
Lucknow UP 2,245,509
Varanasi Up 1,203,961 (ruled out)
Meerut UP 1,161,716
Allahabad  1,042,229
Agra  1,331,339 (ruled out due to proximity to delhi)

RAJ
Jaipur - 2,322,575

MAHA
Nagpur MAHA 2,129,500
Nashik MAHA 1,152,326
Auranagabad MAHA 1,114,918

BIHAR, JK
Patna  1,697,976
Jamshedpur  1,104,713
Dhanbad JK 1,065,327

MP
Indore 1,516,918
Bhopal MP 1,458,416
Jabalpur MP 1,098,000

TN, KERALA,
Coimbatore TN 1,461,139
Madurai TN 1,203,095
Kochi KERALA 1,355,972

AP
Visakhapatnam AP 1,345,938
Vijayawada   1,039,518  (Ruled out, no physical space for improvement in this city)
 
WB:
Asansol, WB  1,067,369 (ashamed to say never heard this name till now)

PUN, HAR
Ludhiana PJ 1,398,467
 Amritsar  1,003,917
Faridabad - HAR 1,055,938
Chandigarh  1,165,111

  -

[LosingNow]

Well, there is a reason for holding Olympics in a big city. It is not just the sporting infrastructure. There have to be plenty of Hotels to accomopdate millions of visitors..(though not the ultra-expensive ones like in Delhi). Even the Olympic Village to accomodate 5-6000 athletes needs to be reused for housing city residents after the event. International Airport,Metro, multi-national cuisine,cultural events, night life, tourist attractions etc are a must. Even Delhi is not perfect since it is far from the Sea where Sailing events are held. But if you organize it in a place like say Pondicherry or Vizag or Jaipur or Cuttack, there would be total chaos. I do agree with you on the point of developping a new city...

Actually what you said is very right, if i remember right some car industry (proton or VW i guess) refused vizag because it doesn't have enough hotels and nightlife (there were also a scandal in the same matter which can be a separate thread).

LOL..

OF, surprisingly enough, there were good business reasons(lack of vendor base, ancilliary units..) for VW to decide against Vizag (despite Naidu and YSR's extensive lobbying and SOPs).

--
Vincent/OF:
2020 is way too early for India to qualify as an Olympic host.

Cities like Chicago are making bid plans for 2016, NOW..

We need to take baby steps first before thinking of sprinting.

Let's host an Asiad first.. then another significant "regional" sports event ..and so on. We also need to start winning some medals..we need to see our per capita income is up by then..

I think the earliest we can bid for is 2028...and even that is optimistic!!

[Cover Point]

another thing against smaller cities is that the infrastructure that will need to be built is going to be HUGE. Not only the stadiums but the accomodations etc that they talked about is just not doable. You cant have 100's of hotels built for an olympics and then have no use for them 2 days after the olympics. A Vizag cant become a Mumbai just by the olympics can it?