Doha & the 2016 Olympics
Excerpts from the report in todays Gulf times:
QATAR has not left any stone unturned for the Olympic Candidate City selection in June......
...And what’s going to give an added advantage is the compact plan and state-of-the-art venues....
...Around 85% of the athletes will compete within a 7.5km radius from the Olympic Village. The farthest venue is only 30km away...
...Besides the funding from the IOC and the government of Qatar, Doha 2016 estimates that it can generate $784mn through an innovative commercial programme. From sponsorship $450mn, ticket sales $259mn, licensing $15mn and others $60mn. The total Games budget will be well over $2.5bn.
If you think the influx of the large number of delegates and Games enthusiasts into the country would be a cause of worry; then you are wrong. Doha will surpass the minimum accommodation bar of 60,000 rooms and has guaranteed 82,852 rooms, of which 87% will be within 10km of the Games centre...
Doha has 17,964 hotel rooms as of now, primarily in four and five-star and deluxe apartment hotel categories....
Qatar has already invested heavily to develop transportation infrastructure. The new Doha International Airport to be completed by 2009 has a capacity of 50mn passengers annually with the most modern paraphernalia. By the Games, the metro /light rail network with tram lines and feeder bus network will be in place as per the bid proposal.
What should be an added advantage in Doha’s favour would be the carbon-neutral Games with zero waste goal focusing on water reclamation, conservation, renewable resources, international sustainable design competition....
However, the region’s volatility could be the only deterrent factor to Qatar’s aspirations. The West has been sceptical of the Arab nations and to convince them on the security aspect would be a big ask. Ali bin Ali rubbished such claims and said, “We have never faced any security concerns in the past and are confident of conducting the Games smoothly. The successful completion of the Asian Games in 2006 is a prime example.
Qatar has proposed October 14-30 as the dates for the Games in 2016 which is quite contrary to the dates of the Games held in the past.
“Lot of people have asked me the question why not early? But we have gone through the climatic condition of this region in the last 10 years and have come to the conclusion that these dates were ideal for the athletes to give their best.
“We have also sifted through the records and found that dates are not at all a problem for the IOC as there are cases when the Games have been hosted in November-December.”
It genuinely does not bear thinking about just what a bad Idea it would be having the Olympics here.
If it were to be anywhere in the Middle East it should be Dubai.
I shudder to think what would happen to the place if they got it, rent would spiral, roads dug up for 6 years only to be completed the week before the games, and then there is the utter waste.
Look at Kalifa stadium, how many times has that been used since the games or any of the other expensive venues.
Personally I think its a disgrace, the country should spend money on IT infrastructure, education for its population, I don't know there are a million things wrong here before the Olympics are awarded.
Number one the underpayment and exploitation of all immigrant workers, until they have at least some sort of rights this place should not be awarded anything at all.
Human rights first, then think about a bid.
If luckily Qatar gets the nod for the Olympics we would probably be seeing more of the Asian Games Fiasco in terms of infrastructure. I guess we have forgotten the leaking stadium roof during the inaguration of the much hyped Asian Games. The newly built roads that developed craters and the potholes with water in them.
Even the recently built Midmac underpass, reported recently in the Gulf-Times has developed wide cracks.
Anyways just like people made money from the shoddy business practices and infrastructure during the Asian Games similarly the people will make money from Olympics. Qatar might host successful Olympics but the aftermaths of Olympics.........lets wait and see.
"Some learn from other's ordeals, some learn the hard way and some never learn"
The Olympic bid team aren't doing a very good job of promoting Qatar either. Their website directs tourists to the Tourism Authority, except it isn't the right website, it's a fake website that has been blocked by Qtel because of porno adverts.
And they don't get the right Sharq newspaper either - they send people to the Saudi-owned, London-based Sharq.
When the site was first launched, they even got Al Jazeera's web address wrong. Idiots.
I wonder whether the Olympic bid team has ever been to Doha.
--nigel
http://qatarjournal.com/
I was in North America during the Asian Games and I can vouch that no one in my residence of 200 graduate students knew anything about the Asian Games. The only Asian Games news that made it to the papers was of the Indian female Athlete who on tests turned out to be a man due to the high levels of testosterone.
During the Atlanta Games, certain roads were close to the public, except to the olympians and their caravans of vehicles. Yes, we the public paid a price for those 2 week time, when it came to traveling to our jobs. We did not care, because we all knew were to go in the evening with our families and friends. It was a party city, except for the bomb in the centennial park, which made angry a lot of us the locals.
I wish the best for Doha and better organization. You guys got the money and the space.
The Red Pope of Qatar Living
I don't know knox. I think it was you who mentioned a site to do with co2 emissions and it turned out that Qatar was 56 on the list or something :P
Either way, better to see an initiative than nothing at all.
The asian games really increased Qatar awareness and developed the country. The reason why tourism hasn't increased as much is because the Tourism Authority isn't working hard to bring tourists at the moment until there is something for tourists to come and enjoy.
Better to have them come and leave with good memories than bitter ones.
If there are more hotels, guess what? That means prices will drop to compete. I mentioned a huge list in another thread of the benefits.
It's simply absurd to say "what about the stadiums". Who cares if they're not used as much. What are they going to do, double the tax? From 0 to... 0? Do you live next to sports city? (just asking in case you are worried about the houses there getting knocked down).
This is a great way to have the company develop faster and to bring in more competition. Bring it on I say. To be honest, lets say for arguments sake that it does fail. It'll be a nice kick in the governments bum and that'll hopefully work at an advantage too.
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Seriously the only way they can host green olympics is by buying the carbon credit from the countries whose carbon emission are well below the Kyoto agreed criteria.
Anyways Qatar will one day host the Olympics whether it is 2016 or 2020 but we should not forget the Asian Games. Did the Asian Games increase tourism? Did people scoop up all the tickets of the Asian Games?
or did the authorities had to pay people and provide people with free transportation to go and watch the Games.
Suppose if Qatars get the nod for hosting Olympics and spends billions on infrastructure and is successfully able to host the Olympics. What will Qatar do with the stadiums and hotels it has built after the Olympics.
Ask the countries in EU to play their league matches in Qatar?
I say one should go and visit Greece and see the detoriarating condition of the stadiums there. To think that the games will be of any benefit to qatar is a really lame excuse. I wonder what the benefits would be for Qatar to host the Olympics. Lets not forget or ignore the reaping benefits of hosting the Asian Games.
@heart, Qatar is the first country in the middle east to sign up to the kyoto volountarily. Qatar has always 'aimed' green.
Anyway, the only major competitor is Rio in my opinion and they dont stand a chance because they are poorer and have a VERY VERY high crime rate.
Qatar can do it. If we win it, Doha will be so amazingly developed for it.
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The Country barely pulled off the Asia Games, the debacle of getting the IOC delegates and Athletes back to their accommodation will not be forgotten.
Its 2008 and they want to build 40,000 Hotels rooms in 8 years, come on. Never gonna happen, and even if they did do it, why does Qatar then need 60,000 Hotel rooms. Any one see the headline over Christmas, saying all the hotels were empty and the owners were asking why the Government didn't promote the country more.
Getting the games would be a disaster for the Country, the Asian Games is one of the reasons the rents are so high.
And the ticket sales numbers are Waaaaaayy off. Come on we all saw the empty venues for the Asian Games.
Olympic bids, should focus on providing a development that is sustainable, I don't mean the construction, but it's use after the olymics, providing something that will be of use well after the short period of games.
Not in response to anything, just a statement.
Do you expect anyone to read what you write, and then take you seriously when you write like that?
should really be focusing on providing affordable, varied and a huge number of hotel rooms. How can it host the Olympic Games if visitors have nowhere to stay?
sure infrastrctr iz importan but da mantality & life stile of cantry iz most importan.
abov post not menshin anyting bout religin, life stile, heat of sumer..etc.
i hop qatar tek da olympics, i hop dis olympic 2 help qatar improv life stile, i hop dis olympic 2 mek big step 2 tek qatar 2 new era
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Ha!! The whole Green Olympics thing is quite a stretch, Qatar doesn't seem to know or even care what Green means.
For the Asian games there were 'recycling' bins out for show, but all of the rubbish went to the same place out the back.
but anyway its a good thing they are understanding the importance of at least appearing to be carbon neutral. Lets just hope they walk the walk.
They got a good chance , The IOC would find it easy to got for olympic games in Qatar as long as the region is as stable as now.
This is the Olympics though, there won't be a problem with spectators, people will come from all over the world.
"How come I can pick my ears but not my nose? Who made up that rule anyway? How come you say that's the way it is, that's just the way it goes, maybe you should decide for yourself what you can do and what you can say." Ani Difranco
what do you think could be the improvement from that asian games?
for me i think there was very little public involvement in 2006 in terms of attendance... other than the football and tennis matches, there were'nt many spectators.. everybody was busy with office work!
---Life is Fragile, Handle With Prayer---
I was out on the road to Bu Samra yesterday and noticed a giant construction site with the Olympic Commitee logo, anyone have any idea what that's going to be?
"How come I can pick my ears but not my nose? Who made up that rule anyway? How come you say that's the way it is, that's just the way it goes, maybe you should decide for yourself what you can do and what you can say." Ani Difranco
The jump from Asian games to Olympics is too big. I hope and wish Qatar makes it.
As far as I know, its pretty much a done deal. Qatar WILL host the olympics in 2016.
so what do u guys think? what are the chances? more importantly, what could be the challenges?
---Life is Fragile, Handle With Prayer---