Dubai 2020 Olympics
This week Dubai announced that it was considering putting in a bid to host the Olympics in 2020. But has Dubai got what it takes to hold the Olympics? Could it deliver? Would it be true to what the Olympics represent? I belive that to all these questions - it is possible - and by 2020, more than 10 years time, Dubai will have learned many of the lessons required of hosting such an event. The infrastructure is starting to be put in place, but the issue with Dubai is that it is a state in transition (and one would argue that is at standstill at present) - and it has bever had to deal with an event of this nature ever before. But think again. The rebirth of Dubai - ie Dubai now compared to Dubai 10 years ago - is a wholescale change. That is the scale of transformation that an Olypics needs. I believe that is possible. It has happened before and it will happen again - the growth that is.
If the right people are in place, if the right direction is given and if the leadership is there, there is no doubt that it could be achived and run very well.
But, we are at the very beginning - Dubai is only considering and is in the hat with some other notable cities including - Durban, Cape Town, Busan, New Delhi, Toronto and Kuala Lumpur - and Doha. Taking this to the next stage will probably rule out 4 of these cities, so there is probably only room for one city in the Middle East. What Doha has over Dubai is that it has successfully run and operated a similar games, the Asian games in 2006, and although smaller, proof of concept is usually less risky than the promise.
And why would Dubai want the Olympics? Cities want the Olympics for many reasons - regeneration, tourism, investment, commerce, - but Dubai would want the Olympics to tell the world that it has arrived - and by 2020 it certainly will be more than ever on the world stage. The blip of the bubble bursting will be behind it, and there will be new drivers of growth - one of which may be the Olympics. It may be a hot summer in 2020, but an Olympics in the Middle East? It's about time.
Dubai has what it takes to host the Games
Dubai has what it takes to host the Biggest Show on Earth
If the right people are in place, if the right direction is given and if the leadership is there, there is no doubt that it could be achived and run very well.
But, we are at the very beginning - Dubai is only considering and is in the hat with some other notable cities including - Durban, Cape Town, Busan, New Delhi, Toronto and Kuala Lumpur - and Doha. Taking this to the next stage will probably rule out 4 of these cities, so there is probably only room for one city in the Middle East. What Doha has over Dubai is that it has successfully run and operated a similar games, the Asian games in 2006, and although smaller, proof of concept is usually less risky than the promise.
And why would Dubai want the Olympics? Cities want the Olympics for many reasons - regeneration, tourism, investment, commerce, - but Dubai would want the Olympics to tell the world that it has arrived - and by 2020 it certainly will be more than ever on the world stage. The blip of the bubble bursting will be behind it, and there will be new drivers of growth - one of which may be the Olympics. It may be a hot summer in 2020, but an Olympics in the Middle East? It's about time.
Dubai has what it takes to host the Games
Dubai has what it takes to host the Biggest Show on Earth
Labels: dubai olympics
posted by grapeshisha at
11:48 PM
2 Comments:
The infrastructure, the Olympic Village, the hotel rooms - none of that will present a problem to Dubai.
The problem is climate.
The 'summer' games would have to be pushed back to Ocober or later and that doesn't fit the athletics schedule. It may also not fit with the all-important TV scheduling.
The other problem is air quality. Remember the Beijing Olympics, with draconian measures taken to try to improve air quality with vehicles banned from the roads, factories closed down, athletes from various countries staying outside and only flying in for their events.
We have the dust and sand problem. Even if our current biggest problem, cement dust, is less in 2020 there will still be the sand - and maybe sand storms. Athletes won't want to gulp that in.
But whether the bid goes ahead or not, it will be world-wide publicity for Brand Dubai. (It will also open us up to more negative scrutiny!)
seabee,
The Melbourne Summer Olympic games of 1956 were pushed back to 22 November to 8 December - presumably because 'summer' down under may have involved the occasional snow storm - so, the dates are flexible.
A bigger problem is the flexibility of our government's attitude towards Israel.
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