Facts
Today Rio de Janeiro, Brazil was awarded the 2016 Olympics by the IOC. Chicago was considered the favorite going in to the vote.
After the first round of IOC voting Madrid had 28 votes, Rio 26, Tokyo 22 and Chicago was eliminated with 18 votes.
In the second round of voting, Rio had 46 votes followed by Madrid with 29 votes, Tokyo was eliminated with 20 votes.
In the final round of voting, Rio had 66 votes, Madrid 32 votes.
Opinion
Today was supposed to be the day that Americans and the people of Chicago celebrated bringing the summer games to Chicago instead Rio de Janeiro was awarded the games. The fact that Madrid was a finalist had to do with the influence of Juan Antonio Samaranch who was the IOC President for 21 years.
There is nothing wrong with awarding the Olympics to a continent that has never staged the games before but in my opinion the IOC should have given the games to the USA in 2012 instead of Europe(London). Barcelona had the games in 1992.
We've lost two straight Olympic bids, 2005 New York and 2009 Chicago. I blame the lack of an American IOC voting member & George Bush's war in Iraq and unilateralism.
Chicago's ouster in the first round of voting is a slap in the face of the USA and President Obama. Chicago was the favorite. There is evidently lots of anti USA sentiment still left out there.
The USA has hosted two summer Olympic games between 1984 and 1996 and now it looks like we may go another four to eight years more without a games on our soil, that translates to 2020 and 2024. Too long in my opinion.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Thursday, October 1, 2009
World Track and Field Championships - Aug. 15-23 2009
I haven't updated this blog in a while. I wanted to recap the World Track and Field Championships held in Berlin, Germany. Jamaica is clearly our rival and has been beating us regularly now for at least 2 years. Usain Bolt of Jamaica set two world records. He ran the 100m in 9.58 and the 200m in 19.19 seconds. Tyson Gay of the USA ran the 100m in his then personal best 9.71 seconds but pulled out of the 200m.
In the men's 200m Wallace Spearmon of the USA finished third in 19.85 and Shawn Crawford of the USA finished fourth in 19.89.
Allyson Felix won the womens 200m beating Veronica Campbell Brown of Jamaica. Her time was 22.02. Muna Lee of the USA finished fourth.
Sonya Richards of the USA won her first major gold medal winning the womens 400m in 49 seconds.
In the mens 400m LaShawn Merritt of the USA finished first and Jeremy Wariner of the USA finished second.
In the womens 100m Shelly Ann Fraser and Kerron Stewart of Jamaica finished first and second, respectively while Carmelita Jeter of the USA finished third.
In the mens 400m hurdles Kerron Clement of the USA finished first while Bershawn "Batman" Jackson finished third.
Bernard Legat of the USA finished third in the men's 1500m but the USA's Lopez Lomong finished eighth and Leonel Manzano of the USA finished 12th.
In the womens 1500M Shannon Rowbury of the USA finished third.
In the womens 400m hurdles Lashinda Demus of the USA finished second to Jamaica's Melaine Walker, Tiffany Williams of the USA finished fifth.
In the mens 110m hurdles Terrence Trammell of the USA finished second and David Payne of the USA finished third.
In the womens 4 by 400 relay the USA team of Debbie Dunn, Allyson Felix, Lashinda Demus and Sanya Richards finished first.
In the mens 4 by 400 relay the USA team of Angelo Taylor, Jeremy Wariner, Kerron Clement and LaShawn Marritt finished first.
Dwight Phillips of the USA finished first in the mens long jump.
In the womens 800m final Caster Semenya of South Africa finished first in 1:55.45. Her times had improved quite a bit in the past two years and suspicions of cheating arose. It turned out that she is a hermaphrodite(male and female parts) and is being investigated to see what sex she is.
The USA did not do well in the women's 100m hurdles with Dawn Harper finishing seventh, in the women's high jump Chaunte Howard and Amy Acuff finished in seventh and 12th places respectively. In the womens and mens 4 by 100 relay teams were both disqualified. The womens team had a bad baton pass, the mens team passed the baton too soon. Jenn Rhines finished ninth in the womens 5000. Nick Symmonds finished sixth in the mens 800m
Medal table below:
ResultsRank Country Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 UNITED STATES (USA) 10 6 6 22
2 JAMAICA (JAM) 7 4 2 13
3 KENYA (KEN) 4 5 2 11
4 RUSSIA (RUS) 4 3 6 13
5 POLAND (POL) 2 4 2 8
6 GERMANY (GER) 2 3 4 9
7 ETHIOPIA (ETH) 2 2 4 8
8 GREAT BRITAIN & N.I. (GBR) 2 2 2 6
9 SOUTH AFRICA (RSA) 2 1 0 3
10 AUSTRALIA (AUS) 2 0 2 4
11 BAHRAIN (BRN) 2 0 1 3
12 CUBA (CUB) 1 4 1 6
13 PR OF CHINA (CHN) 1 1 2 4
14 NORWAY (NOR) 1 1 0 2
15 SPAIN (ESP) 1 0 1 2
16 BARBADOS (BAR) 1 0 0 1
16 CROATIA (CRO) 1 0 0 1
16 NEW ZEALAND (NZL) 1 0 0 1
16 SLOVENIA (SLO) 1 0 0 1
20 FRANCE (FRA) 0 1 2 3
20 TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO (TRI) 0 1 2 3
22 BAHAMAS (BAH) 0 1 1 2
22 JAPAN (JPN) 0 1 1 2
24 CANADA (CAN) 0 1 0 1
24 CYPRUS (CYP) 0 1 0 1
24 CZECH REPUBLIC (CZE) 0 1 0 1
24 ERITREA (ERI) 0 1 0 1
24 IRELAND (IRL) 0 1 0 1
24 PANAMA (PAN) 0 1 0 1
24 PORTUGAL (POR) 0 1 0 1
24 PUERTO RICO (PUR) 0 1 0 1
32 ESTONIA (EST) 0 0 1 1
32 MEXICO (MEX) 0 0 1 1
32 QATAR (QAT) 0 0 1 1
32 ROMANIA (ROU) 0 0 1 1
32 SLOVAK REPUBLIC (SVK) 0 0 1 1
32 TURKEY (TUR) 0 0 1 1
In the men's 200m Wallace Spearmon of the USA finished third in 19.85 and Shawn Crawford of the USA finished fourth in 19.89.
Allyson Felix won the womens 200m beating Veronica Campbell Brown of Jamaica. Her time was 22.02. Muna Lee of the USA finished fourth.
Sonya Richards of the USA won her first major gold medal winning the womens 400m in 49 seconds.
In the mens 400m LaShawn Merritt of the USA finished first and Jeremy Wariner of the USA finished second.
In the womens 100m Shelly Ann Fraser and Kerron Stewart of Jamaica finished first and second, respectively while Carmelita Jeter of the USA finished third.
In the mens 400m hurdles Kerron Clement of the USA finished first while Bershawn "Batman" Jackson finished third.
Bernard Legat of the USA finished third in the men's 1500m but the USA's Lopez Lomong finished eighth and Leonel Manzano of the USA finished 12th.
In the womens 1500M Shannon Rowbury of the USA finished third.
In the womens 400m hurdles Lashinda Demus of the USA finished second to Jamaica's Melaine Walker, Tiffany Williams of the USA finished fifth.
In the mens 110m hurdles Terrence Trammell of the USA finished second and David Payne of the USA finished third.
In the womens 4 by 400 relay the USA team of Debbie Dunn, Allyson Felix, Lashinda Demus and Sanya Richards finished first.
In the mens 4 by 400 relay the USA team of Angelo Taylor, Jeremy Wariner, Kerron Clement and LaShawn Marritt finished first.
Dwight Phillips of the USA finished first in the mens long jump.
In the womens 800m final Caster Semenya of South Africa finished first in 1:55.45. Her times had improved quite a bit in the past two years and suspicions of cheating arose. It turned out that she is a hermaphrodite(male and female parts) and is being investigated to see what sex she is.
The USA did not do well in the women's 100m hurdles with Dawn Harper finishing seventh, in the women's high jump Chaunte Howard and Amy Acuff finished in seventh and 12th places respectively. In the womens and mens 4 by 100 relay teams were both disqualified. The womens team had a bad baton pass, the mens team passed the baton too soon. Jenn Rhines finished ninth in the womens 5000. Nick Symmonds finished sixth in the mens 800m
Medal table below:
ResultsRank Country Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 UNITED STATES (USA) 10 6 6 22
2 JAMAICA (JAM) 7 4 2 13
3 KENYA (KEN) 4 5 2 11
4 RUSSIA (RUS) 4 3 6 13
5 POLAND (POL) 2 4 2 8
6 GERMANY (GER) 2 3 4 9
7 ETHIOPIA (ETH) 2 2 4 8
8 GREAT BRITAIN & N.I. (GBR) 2 2 2 6
9 SOUTH AFRICA (RSA) 2 1 0 3
10 AUSTRALIA (AUS) 2 0 2 4
11 BAHRAIN (BRN) 2 0 1 3
12 CUBA (CUB) 1 4 1 6
13 PR OF CHINA (CHN) 1 1 2 4
14 NORWAY (NOR) 1 1 0 2
15 SPAIN (ESP) 1 0 1 2
16 BARBADOS (BAR) 1 0 0 1
16 CROATIA (CRO) 1 0 0 1
16 NEW ZEALAND (NZL) 1 0 0 1
16 SLOVENIA (SLO) 1 0 0 1
20 FRANCE (FRA) 0 1 2 3
20 TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO (TRI) 0 1 2 3
22 BAHAMAS (BAH) 0 1 1 2
22 JAPAN (JPN) 0 1 1 2
24 CANADA (CAN) 0 1 0 1
24 CYPRUS (CYP) 0 1 0 1
24 CZECH REPUBLIC (CZE) 0 1 0 1
24 ERITREA (ERI) 0 1 0 1
24 IRELAND (IRL) 0 1 0 1
24 PANAMA (PAN) 0 1 0 1
24 PORTUGAL (POR) 0 1 0 1
24 PUERTO RICO (PUR) 0 1 0 1
32 ESTONIA (EST) 0 0 1 1
32 MEXICO (MEX) 0 0 1 1
32 QATAR (QAT) 0 0 1 1
32 ROMANIA (ROU) 0 0 1 1
32 SLOVAK REPUBLIC (SVK) 0 0 1 1
32 TURKEY (TUR) 0 0 1 1
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