Why the USA shouldn't host the Olympics

The USA: land of the free, home of the brave and host nation of 8 Olympic games. Somehow, this nation believes it deserves to host the Olympic games yet another time, I can name but a few of the reasons why it shouldn't. 

The USA has hosted the Summer Olympic games 4 times on top of the 4 winter games the nation has hosted. This figure well surpasses that of any other nation, with only countries such as France and Britain able to come anywhere close. Compare this figure with the number of games hosted on the entire continent of Africa and it seems ridiculous that the USA has hosted the games so much. 
 

Cast your kind back to the last American summer Olympics, the Atlanta games of 1996, the celebration of useless organisation in the USA: the athletes' canteen lacked food native to African and Asian nations, the roads were gridlocked due to the poor transport systems and poor facilities for the global media which led to heavy criticsm of the games all round.
 

If we go back 12 years prior to the games of Atlanta we find ourselves in Los Angeles at the games of the XXIII Olympiad, these games were boycotted by 16 nations mainly due to the US led boycott of the Moscow games four years before, which ultimately led to the medal table being 'slightly skewed' in favour of the United States. 
 

The third member of the terrible threesome of American Olympics is the St Louis games of 1904 which were held as a sideshow to the World's Fair, a decision that nearly ended the Olympic movement before it had truly started.

The United States hasn't just ruined the Summer games either: In 1972 the city of Denver put the IOC in a difficult position when they decided to pull out of their hosting responsibilities for the '76 winter games due to escalating costs, forcing Innsbruck, Austria to step in as last minute host.

 

As if the US hadn't undermined the Olympic movement enough, they decided to bribe IOC members to host the winter games of 2002 in Salt Lake City. Doing so shook the Olympic Committee to the core and put corruption in sporting organisations under the media microscope for years to come.

The USA also lacks interest for Olympic sports in the intervals between editions of the games; the largest IAAF certified Athletics stadium in the United States has a whopping capacity of 10500 at Hayward field in Eugene, Oregon, which has the largest capacity of 4 IAAF tracks in the US.
 

The USA lacks experience in hosting international sporting events; it seems that in recent times the only World Championships they have hosted are those in Equestrian which were held in Lexington in 2010, and just like america does, the USA bided for the 2018 edition of the championships with Wellington, Florida before they pulled out due to lack of political support.
 

So given this information would you trust the USA with the task of organising the World's biggest sporting event? 

Why doping rules aren't tough enough

Anyone who knows anything about sport will know about the shocking evidence of Lance Armstrong's doping evidence, and as we come to terms with the fact that one of the world's most loved cyclists ran a doping ring throughout his career, I can only ponder over why the World Anti-Doping Agency is becoming more leniant with cheats.

The most recent example of cuhy punishments are in fact involved with the Armstrong case; 11 cyclists were the key to revealing the sophisticated drug ring run by Armstrong, and despite admitting to using performance enhancing substances, they have only recieved a 6 month ban each. While we should commend these cyclists for bringing the truth to light, 6 months does not serve as a strong deterrent to other potential cheats, considering they can be back competing in the same year they were caught breaking the fundamental rules of sport.
.
There are also many ways to avoid serving long sentences; the Belarusian shot putter Nadzeya Ostapchuk, who was stripped of her 2012 Olympic gold after testing positive for the banned substance, metonolone, has only recieved a 1 year suspension thanks to her coach admitting he was guilty. I'm not convinced that he did spike her food, in my opinion it seemed like a plot to halve her potential ban.

In all of this however we should not forget the complications of whether someone knowingly cheated or not, for example in 2002 British Alpine Skiier Alain Baxter was stripped of his Olympic bronze after testing positive for a banned substance. It was later revealed that the substance could be traced to a Vicks inhaler that he bought in the US, not aware of the differences in formula to the British version. I see this as a perfectly valid reason as to why it was in his system, as did the FIS, which accepted his appeal and gave him the minimum ban, 3 months, which seems harsh for a drug that damages the body rather than improves it. He was never reinstated of his medal which does seem fair considering someone in the public eye shouldn't really have Meth in their system.

What disappoints me most about the WADA is that instead of helping to fight the war against drugs in sport, they have taken the side of drugs on many occasions, most notably earlier this year when the organisation fought the British Olympic Association over a rule that prevented any athlete that had been found of using drugs in the past of competing at the Olympics. Sadly the WADA won the case at the Court of Arbitration for Sport with one of the flimsiest cases in the court's history. So the BOA were forced to remove the rule that was older than the organistion that was set up to prevent doping.

And so, we are left with an organisation that takes money from NOCs all around the world, and in return: changes their rules, issues short bans and fights for the people they were set up against. On top of this it is up to National Anti doping agencies, such as the USADA to uncover drugs scandals due to the WADA's reluctance to use DNA fingerprinting until the 2012 Olympics.

What, More Sports?!

In just less than a year's time, the International Olympic Committee will whether they will add any new sports to the 2020 Olympic programme. This made me wander why the IOC want to add any more sports to their already saturated programme.

London 2012 was made up of 26 different sports, the smallest since 1996, when this figure was equalled. Not for one moment during these games did I think that the games were lacking Wushu or roller sports, in fact I think the addition of Golf and Rugby Sevens for 2016 is unnecessary considering both Golf and Rugby already have large international tournaments.

Worse still, if one of Climbing, Wushu, Karate, Squash or Baseball and softball, we will lose one of the current Olympic sports, or they will surpass the 28 sport limit. while we have little reason to fear over Athletics, Swimming, Cycling or Gymnastics, I am dreading the potential removal of sports such as Taekwondo, Fencing, Modern Pentathlon (The sport created for the Olympics) and Equestrian (My personal favourite).

Let's face it, none of the shortlisted sports truly embody the Olympic spirit; Baseball and Softball are the first two sports to be removed from the Olympics since Polo in 1936, while Karate bears too many similaries to Taekwondo. The only country that plays Wushu is China, and they don't really need more medals do they? Climbing would send all spectators to sleep, and Squash lacks international participation as does Roller sports.

These sports also lack the ability to draw in the crowds, I couldn't imagine many people that would spend their hard earned money watching someone climbing a wall or skating around in circles on roller blades.

More sports also make the games difficult to host, an extra burden for debt-ridden hosts to carry. Rugby Sevens for example needs a stadium of around 40,000 seats, and considering Rugby isn't too international, host cities will fork out for a new one, on top of the costs of other venues.

It is also noteworthy that not all Olympic sports are instantly popular; tennis, which was introduced in 1988 only managed to gain popularity as an Olympic sport in 2012, while basketball has remained dull since 1992 when NBA players could compete, unofficially giving the USA the gold for each games in both men's and women's.

I have to say if any of these sports deserves the legendary Olympic status, it would have to be squash, as it is truly individual as as sport, despite being hard to follow, and if any sports are to be removed from the Olympic programme it should be one of Golf or Rugby sevens, that really don't need the Olympic attention.

Will we really miss Van Commenee?

This week, UK Athletics head coach Charles Van Commenee resigned from his post after Team GB only winning 6 of the 8 targeted medals in athletics at the 2012 Olympics. However, I would like to question what he has done as head coach.

Let's not beat around the bush, the British athletics team has been more successful during the reign of the dutchman compared to his predecessor, Dave Collins, who resigned after UKA's lack of success at the Beijing Games. He also has an incredible track record, coaching British athletes such as Denise Lewis and Kelly Sotherton to Olympic success.

However I often doubted his passion for the role, cutting the Women's 4x100m team's funding in 2010, and often got into arguments with Phillips Idowu, and yet still expected much from him at big events.

I also feel that Charles Van Commenee made the preparation for London more difficult than it needed to be, years in advance of the games he announced that no member of the Track and Field squad would be able to attend the Opening ceremony, which, in my opinion, should be the choice of the individual athlete, not one man.

As well as that, instead of training in Britain, the Dutchman forced the team to prepare for the Olympics out in Portugal, which would have probably de-climatised the squad, and then make them re-adjust to the British climate. He also publicly humiliated Phillips Idowu when he failed to make it out to Portugal due to injury.

Van Commenee chose to train in Portugal when the team trained their prior to the 2010 European Championships in Barcelona, what Van Commenee failed to realise was that while the Spanish and Portuguese climates are similar, they have very little in common with the British weather.

He also claims that training abroad helped the team escape the Olympic hype in Britain, this I do agree with, however training in Germany, France or Denmark would keep the athletes adjusted to the unpredictable weather.

However, let's not forget that Team GB athletics won 6 medals, within the forecasted number, and of the 6 medals, 4 of them were gold, putting Great Britain into 4th on the Athletics medal table. He also directed over two of their most successful world championships and one of their most successful European Championships.

I would like to wish Neil Black, the new Performance Director of UKA, luck in his new position. I hope he can build on the success of the past few years, and that he can increase on the medal haul in Rio.

Why London 2012 saved Equestrian

The sport of Equestrian hasn't had an easy ride over the past few years, with constant allegations of doping and the Olympic equestrian venues moving further and further away from the heart of the games, Equestrian sports' Olympic status was nearing danger, until the Games of London.

Cast your mind back to August 2004, the Athens Olympics. Cian O'Connor won Ireland's only Olympic medal in the individual jumping competition, two months later, it was found that Cian O'Connor's horse, Waterford Crystal, tested positive for banned substances: fluphenazine and zuclopenthixol. In July of the following year, the FEI officially stripped O'Connor, and the whole of Ireland of Olympic Gold.
This was a scandal that shook the equestrian world to the core, people realised that cheating in Horse based sports was far easier than in other Olympic disciplines.

In 2005, The Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) made an announcement regarding the Equestrian events in 2008. Due to quarantine laws in China, the Equestrian events of the games weren't even held in the juristiction of the same National Olympic Committee as they were pushed out over 1000 miles away from Beijing to Hong Kong. Despite many attempts to get the feel of the Olympics in Hong Kong, many riders commented upon the feel of a World Championships over the Olympics.

Then London 2012 stepped in, and despite options of hosting the Equestrianism at Hickstead, or Badminton, Seb Coe decided upon a temporary arena in Greenwich park, to ensure the sport was close to the heart of the games. This increased attention given to the sport during the Olympics.

The London games were also the first clean games since 2000, despite rigorous drug testing carried out by the FEI in partnership with the Horseracing Forensic Laboratory in Newmarket. The clean games have clearly saved the olympic status of the sport.

Although to a lesser extent I would argue that the change of tides in the dominance of this sport increased media attention. For years the Germans have been untouchable in Equestrian, with the real competition being for the silver and bronze medals. However in the Team Eventing GB and Germany had a tough battle for gold, and although Germany won gold here, the British Team won gold in the team jumping as well as the Team and Individual dressage. The unexpected nature of the equestrian events lead to an exciting competition that intrigued the sporting world.

It is with great pride that it was the games in my home country that kept my favourite sport, equestrian, part of the gala of excitement that is the Olympics.

Why London 2012 will never be surpassed

As the curtain fell on the Paralympic games, the world was forced to wave goodbye to the games of London. However the games will live on in the memories of billions, and I believe will be remembered as near perfect and unbeatable.

We all remember 4 years ago when we asked ourselves how on earth would London's ceremonies match those of Beijing? For years the British constantly joked, but also fretted over how the world would see us. Decision time came on the 27th, what had Danny Boyle in store for the world, would it be tacky as we feared or would it live up to Beijing?

In my eyes the ceremony undoubtedly became the best ever, as we showed the world we are a fun loving nation with an incredible history and unlike Beijing our 4 ceremonies were a celebration of mankind and humanity, whereas Beijing showed how people can have the synchronisation of a computer.

Let's be honest, not even the Australian public were as enthusiastic about their home games as the Brits; millions lined the streets of Britain, to see the Olympic flame pass through their communities. The games were completely sold out, both of the 8 million Olympic tickets (excluding football) along with the 2.7 million Paralympic tickets, becoming the first games in history to do completely sell out. If you still don't believe in the enthusiasm of the British, then try this, The men's Cycling road race became the most attended Olympic event in history as over 1 million sports fans cheered along the roads of the South-East to be part of the action.

The games also had a party atmosphere that can only be matched by the games of Sydney. In the Olympic park thousands of people watched the Olympic action at 'Park Live', and would cheer every medal, not just those won by the home team. Even in the centre of London the games were present, banners displaying the Olympic rings followed you everywhere, as did statues of the mascots, so when Elena Isinbayeva said that you didn't feel the Olympics in central London, you could tell she didn't go into central London.

Last but by no means least was the sport, we had women from every nation, and women in every sport. Michael Phelps became the most decorated Olympian ever and the queen of the 7 events won gold to the home crowd's delight. Despite the large number of existing swimming records in 'cheat suits' the number of records came close to Beijing.

I fully welcome Rio de Janeiro to host both Games as well as they can, and add the distinctive Brazilian flavour to the greatest Sporting events on earth, though the London games will remain superior to all.

C4's Paralympics coverage - The Pros and the Cons

Back in 2010, Channel 4 bought the UK broadcasting rights to the 2012 Paralympics, outbidding the BBC in the process; Channel 4's coverage hasn't been outstanding, however some aspects have been much better than others.

3rd Worst - Presenters
Jon Snow was the completely wrong man to front C4's coverage of the ceremonies, only he could dampen the spirits of one of the World's biggest parties by pointing out every single "war-torn nation". Even worse is that he would interrupt Jonathan Edwards' and Ade Adepitan's conversation about athletes and sport to depress the audiences at home.
The commentators to the opening ceremony didn't seem to get along, which led to awkward silences and recurring interuptions. It seems someone didn't do their research on Tajikistan.
Let's not forget the constant interrupting of guests and each other that occurs during the afternoon slot held by Arthur Williams and Georgie Bingham, although their explanations to different categories have recently improved my impression of them.

2nd Worst - Over The Top Introductions
I'll be honest, I'm a little rusty when it comes to my Paralympic knowledge, other than the obvious athletes, I am unsure of whether Great Britain have a chance of a medal, and so it would be helpful, to say the least, if the broadcaster would point who has a shot at a medal. Instead they build every British competitor up as a medal contender, they then run a Personal Best and end up in 8th place, needlessly getting up my hopes for an incredibly unlikely medal.

The Worst - Adverts
I know Channel 4 need to make money, and this is the biggest event they have ever shown, however sometimes it seems that they return from an ad break, Claire Balding lists the schedule, followed by Ade introducing the next advert break. In the opening ceremony, advert breaks led to the UK audience missing the arrival of South Africa, and some of the greatest Paralympians of all time, while we saw adverts of David Beckham valiantly attempting to say "Paralympics". (Side note: What the Hell does David Beckham have to do with the Paralympics, Sainsbury's?)

3rd Best - Presenters
I know I said they were bad, but there are some positives. While some presenters are god damn awful, the likes of Claire Balding, Ade Adepitan and Jonathan Edwards truly know what they are talking about. These three have experience in sporting events and clearly seem to have access to the internet unlike some of the presenters. I also appreciate the large number of disabled presenters and journalists, seeing people with disabilities on TV will hopefully help change people's perception towards disablility in the future.

2nd Best - Extra Channels
For the duration of the Paralympics, Channel 4 set up 3 temporary HD channels, dedicated to showing the Paralympics - Without adverts! This may not be the gargantuous 24 channels the BBC set up for the Olympics, and arguably if the BBC did possess the rights to the Paralympics, the number of channels would be higher, I was very surprised that Channel 4 had the ability to set up these channels.

The Best - Dedication
What Channel 4 may lack in quality, the make up for in effort, Channel 4 haven't just been showing the Paralympics, they've been showing the corresponding World Championships and plenty of Paralympic sport in general, even launching a magazine show titled "That Paralympic Show" (Which was on at an awful slot). On top of this, C4's dedication to the cause led to them launching "The Last Leg" a Paralympic comedy covering the day's action, this is definitely a stroke of genius from Channel 4 and nearly brings me to the point of hoping Channel 4 will show the Paralympics again, however we have to remember that this is Channel 4 and they don't care about the show, just the money, and therefore probably won't broadcast the 2016 games due to lack of potential profit.