Well, first of all, I didn't write this - it's reprinted here courtesy of Time Magazine, latest issue. Second - well, hosting the Olympics, like joining the European Union, might be seen by some as a mixed blessing, since most host countries end up zillions of dollars in debt and in possession of fantabulous sports venues that they will probably never use again. Ask Athens. Still, I'm not sure that the IOC had that in mind when they made their decision.
"Before we recently learned that the
2020 Summer Olympic Games
was officially awarded to Tokyo, Japan
by the International
Olympic Committee (IOC), there were literally hundreds of millions
of people around the world who had our fingers crossed and earnestly hoped that
Istanbul, Turkey would finally become the first Muslim-majority country in
history to ever host the Summer Olympic Games.
Istanbul made it to the final round
of voting against Tokyo after beating Madrid in a tiebreaker
round of voting where Istanbul received 49 votes to Madrid’s 45
votes. But in the final round of voting, Tokyo ultimately beat Istanbul with a
final vote of 60 to 36.
So Japan will get to host the
Olympics for the third time (they also hosted the 1964 Summer Olympics and 1972
and 1988 Winter Olympics) while Turkey has never been chosen even once, despite
having been in the running five times." Read more:
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