Alternate Olympic host cities

1996: Toronto over Atlanta and Athens

Aside from the massive bribery done by the USOC to get the games, Toronto's bid was simply better and the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary, which had gone off pretty much perfectly, made it clear that Canada had learned the lessons of 1976 in Montreal and its huge cost overruns. Athens had huge challenges just to host the games that Toronto didn't have. Realistically, it should have been Toronto's games, but the IOC paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to get it. The fact that the USOC got caught red-handed bribing officials to get the 2002 Winter Games adds to the point. A 1996 Toronto Games would have been really good for the country, and would have spared the world from the massively over-commercialized image and games that were put on in Atlanta.
 
1996: Toronto over Atlanta and Athens

Aside from the massive bribery done by the USOC to get the games, Toronto's bid was simply better and the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary, which had gone off pretty much perfectly, made it clear that Canada had learned the lessons of 1976 in Montreal and its huge cost overruns. Athens had huge challenges just to host the games that Toronto didn't have. Realistically, it should have been Toronto's games, but the IOC paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to get it. The fact that the USOC got caught red-handed bribing officials to get the 2002 Winter Games adds to the point. A 1996 Toronto Games would have been really good for the country, and would have spared the world from the massively over-commercialized image and games that were put on in Atlanta.

What has Georgia ever done to upset Ontario.:(:p
 
1980: Anywhere but Moscow
Hindsight's 20-20 on this one but keeping the games away from the Soviet Union this year stops Carter from making the rather moronic move of canceling US involvement in the Olympics (and unfortunately taking a bunch of countries with them). Put the Summer Olympics that year in a neutral country (would have to change the bidding but that's easy enough) and we prevent two boycotts that screwed athletes over the dubious prospect of protesting yet another Cold War issue.
 
1980: Anywhere but Moscow
Hindsight's 20-20 on this one but keeping the games away from the Soviet Union this year stops Carter from making the rather moronic move of canceling US involvement in the Olympics (and unfortunately taking a bunch of countries with them). Put the Summer Olympics that year in a neutral country (would have to change the bidding but that's easy enough) and we prevent two boycotts that screwed athletes over the dubious prospect of protesting yet another Cold War issue.

What about Brazil hosting the olympics that year? They seem like a good place to host the summer olympics.
 
1980: Anywhere but Moscow
Hindsight's 20-20 on this one but keeping the games away from the Soviet Union this year stops Carter from making the rather moronic move of canceling US involvement in the Olympics (and unfortunately taking a bunch of countries with them). Put the Summer Olympics that year in a neutral country (would have to change the bidding but that's easy enough) and we prevent two boycotts that screwed athletes over the dubious prospect of protesting yet another Cold War issue.

What about Brazil hosting the olympics that year? They seem like a good place to host the summer olympics.

According to Wikipedia, the only other city to bid for the 1980 Summer Olympics was... Los Angeles, so that's not exactly neutral ground either.
Maybe the PoD could be Rio de Janiero making a third bid beforehand and the IOC deciding to avoid controversy by selecting it?
 
Moving Moscow to 1976 could potentially solve the boycott problem and the Toronto problem. No invasion of Afghanistan yet, so no reason to boycott (and I don't think Carter would dare boycott during the bicentennial anyway.) Though I suppose there's no way to avoid the separate (but maybe less impacting) boycotts over Apartheid and the Chinese identity crisis.

I still think some countries might boycott over the Russian invasion of Afghanistan no matter where the 1980 games are held, but probably only a relative few (and no punitive 1984 boycott, either.)

That probably means Los Angeles wins in 1980 with a chance of Montreal, but pressure to follow up Moscow with a US city is pretty unavoidable. Montreal wins 1984 by default, unless the city is too exhausted by decades of failure and just gives up. Not sure who would bid if that happened, but maybe Toronto?

Anyway, Canada's case gets stronger all the time through this era, and they've got a reasonable chance of winning a bid in '84, '88, '92, or '96, but probably not of winning two bids. So if it's Montreal then you just have to hope that it's better managed. But there's also the chance that politics/money shifts the focus to Toronto, right? Then you get your wish.

Edit: Looking at the pattern of host cities, it seems long-established by the 1980s that no continent hosts two summer games in a row. So let's scrap the 1984 potential for Canada after a 1980 Los Angeles games. Another 4-year gap probably increases the odds of Canada's OC switching cities.
 
Last edited:
According to Wikipedia, the only other city to bid for the 1980 Summer Olympics was... Los Angeles, so that's not exactly neutral ground either.
Maybe the PoD could be Rio de Janiero making a third bid beforehand and the IOC deciding to avoid controversy by selecting it?

It'd probably be a controversial pick just for not being in either of the big two but probably not get anyone to boycott it.
 
1988: Nagoya, Japan.

Not that I have anything against Seoul, I just feel that it would've been better for Seoul to host the Olympics at a late date, as they would've been much better prepared for it. Seoul's come a long way in 25 years and is much better off today than it was then. Seoul hosting the Olympics in 2016, instead of say, 1988, would've given a much better experience for everybody involved. Needless to say, they probably won't host another Summer Olympics for a while now.

1996: Toronto over Atlanta and Athens

Location: Toronto, Canada

Bias much? :p

Just messin' with ya. ;)

Hey, look on the bright side. At least it's not the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Now that's a travesty. :eek:
 
Last edited:
Moving Moscow to 1976 could potentially solve the boycott problem and the Toronto problem.
This suggests IOC didn't want any superpower hosting, to avoid the exact kinds of problems they got in '80. This is how Montreal got the games to begin with.

If you can avoid the "continental" issue, you might go with Madrid (bidder in '72). Or have Madrid win in '72 & Munich re-apply & win in '80. You might be able to get Seoul or Nagoya in '84 instead of '88. Or maybe Shaghai or someplace.
 
Moving Moscow to 1976 could potentially solve the boycott problem and the Toronto problem. No invasion of Afghanistan yet, so no reason to boycott (and I don't think Carter would dare boycott during the bicentennial anyway.) Though I suppose there's no way to avoid the separate (but maybe less impacting) boycotts over Apartheid and the Chinese identity crisis.

It would be tough for Carter to boycott in 76 since Ford was President ;)
 
This suggests IOC didn't want any superpower hosting, to avoid the exact kinds of problems they got in '80. This is how Montreal got the games to begin with.

Yeah, I saw that. This is a total stab in the dark, but would it surprise anybody if the USOC and Soviet OC used their leverage over the world to make sure they were the only two choices in 1980?

If so, this couldn't have been done in the dark. So what if they try it in '76, or even just have the IOC come to realize what's in the cards for 1980.

In this what-if scenario, where the IOC know they'll need to give the games to both countries (give it to one, you have to give it to another,) I think the best choice they can make is Moscow '76. Basically because the US isn't going to miss a chance to win medals during the bicentennial and also because we're a lot closer to that low ebb of presidential power after Nixon left.

Perhaps these finer points would be missed with all the egos at play, and of course it's entirely possible that I'm wrong about the US/USSR manipulating events for 1980. But it seems reasonable enough for a POD to me.
 

JSmith

Banned
In your opinion, who should've won the bid for what year and why?
Well its a tad different answer but I think Denver should have kept the bid it won for the 1976 Winter Games-thus becoming the alternate choice in a sense -because whats posted below actually happened :eek: Basically this would have put Denver on the map alot earlier and we could have had more planned growth since the feared unplanned growth that fueled the rejection of the games happened anyway. Also I'd probably have a cool old picture of myself at 2 at the Games with my parents .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_Winter_Olympics
Host selection[edit]

Main article: Bids for the 1976 Winter Olympics
The cities of Denver, Colorado, United States; Sion, Switzerland; Tampere, Finland; and Vancouver (with the Garibaldi mountains), Canada, made bids for the Games.
The games were originally awarded to Denver in May 12, 1970, but a 300 percent rise in costs and worries about environmental impact led to Colorado voters' rejection on November 7, 1972, by a 3 to 2 margin, of a $5 million bond issue to finance the games with public funds.[1][2]
Denver officially withdrew on November 15, and the IOC then offered the games to Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, but they too declined owing to a change of government following elections. Whistler would go on to be associated with neighbouring Vancouver's successful bid for the 2010 games.
Salt Lake City, Utah, which would eventually host in 2002, offered itself as a potential host after the withdrawal of Denver. The IOC, still reeling from the Denver rejection, declined and selected Innsbruck, which had hosted the 1964 Winter Olympics games twelve years earlier, on February 5, 1973.
The chart below displays the original vote count for the 69th IOC meeting at Amsterdam, Netherlands, in 1970, before the Denver rejection and the installation of Innsbruck, Austria, as alternate host.
[hide]Original 1976 Winter Olympics bidding results[3]CityCountryRound 1Round 2Round 3Denver
22px-Flag_of_the_United_States.svg.png
United States292939Sion
20px-Flag_of_Switzerland.svg.png
Switzerland183130Tampere
22px-Flag_of_Finland.svg.png
Finland128—VancouverGaribaldi
22px-Flag_of_Canada.svg.png
 
Expat said:
I think the best choice they can make is Moscow '76. Basically because the US isn't going to miss a chance to win medals during the bicentennial and also because we're a lot closer to that low ebb of presidential power after Nixon left.
That makes a lot of sense: less chance of a U.S. boycott, especially if Denver goes first, with the Summer Games, & less chance (maybe) of a Sov beef if they know they'll be getting the Winter Games the very same year (plus no retaliation for a U.S. boycott).
 
Top