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London wins
2012 Summer Olympics
Beats out Paris, Madrid, Moscow and New York
It
looked for a long time as though Paris would be awarded its first
Olympic Games in eight decades. Instead it’s those old French foes
the British who are celebrating.
This
morning the International Olympic Committee awarded the 2012 Summer
Games to London, a big surprise after Paris emerged as the
frontrunner over the past year.
Some
speculated that France’s chances were hurt by ill-timed comments
from President Jacque Chirac, who was quoted over the weekend as saying
that England’s only contribution to world cuisine was mad cow
disease.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, in response,
said that he would not “disrespect the other cities” in the
bidding, which also included Madrid, Moscow and New York.
The
IOC, which loves to talk about sportsmanship and fair play, didn’t
make its decision entirely based on that exchange, of course, but it
couldn’t have hurt Britain’s chances.
The
IOC also rewards persistence. England had made three failed bids to
host the Olympics since the London Games of 1948. Paris hosted the
1900 and 1924 Games.
Though
New York City mounted a decent bid, it was ultimately undone by two
things. A proposed stadium in Manhattan was not approved in time for
this week’s final presentation, and despite Mayor Michael
Bloomberg’s promise that an Olympic Stadium would be built, it was
far from a sure thing.
And
a rumor began to float that New York would contend for a future
Games, meaning the IOC would get another chance to look at the
city.
London
already has a stadium proposal ready for the Games. Its presentation focused
on the city’s diversity and its large population of young people,
including many who attend university there.
NBC
has the rights to the 2010 and 2012 Games, for which it paid $2
billion. It paid a record $1.18 billion for the 2012 Olympics alone,
easily edging bids by Fox and ABC two years ago.
The
network had obviously hoped for a U.S.-hosted Games in 2012, as
ratings tend to be higher when the Games are held here.
But
the 2010 Winter Games will be in Vancouver, British Columbia, which
isn’t too far away, and there was a sense that after Salt Lake
City hosted the 2002 Winter Games, the IOC wouldn’t return to the
U.S. so soon.
There’s
less of a time difference between London and Athens and Sydney, the
sites of the past two Summer Games, which should be good for NBC.
The
past two years it struggled to keep viewers interested in watching
events in primetime hours after they had been contested and results
were already available on the web.
Last
Summer’s Games averaged a 15.0 household rating in primetime, up 9
percent over the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.
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July 6, 2005
©
2005
Media Life
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