Golf, Rugby Made Official

Golf and rugby sevens will officially be on the 2016 summer olympics program. That will restore the Summer Olympics to 28 sports, as London will only have 26. It’s too bad that rugby sevens, a sport which features all 3 Great Britain countries in the top 10 in the world, can’t get on the London 2012 program. In addition, golf was invented in Great Britain as well.

As for 2016, it’s great that there will be the usual 28 sports again, but Fox Sports cautions:

For all of its natural beauty, Rio is not a golf destination. It may have approximately 100 courses, but it’s questionable whether any of them are truly championship caliber. Only one within the city’s borders might meet competition criteria, and two other courses in the surrounding region could warrant consideration.

Rio will probably have to alter a course, or maybe build an entire course, to accommodate Tiger Woods and the rest of the world’s top golfers. David Pillsbury, COO of PGA Tour Course Properties, has said that something like TPS in San Antonio could be the plan for Rio.

The IOC Makes A Mistake In Choosing Rio

Yesterday the IOC chose Rio de Janiero, Brazil as its host for the 2016 summer games. Rio will be the first city in South America to host an Olympics, and the first city in the Southern Hemisphere to host since Sydney in 2000. Chicago was out first, followed by Tokyo.

Chicago got just 18 votes in the first round of voting out of a possible 94 ballots. Tokyo then had 20 of the possible 95 to be ousted in the next round, while Rio defeated Madrid 66-32 in the final round of voting.

For the record, my prediction was that Tokyo would be out first, then Madrid, and Chicago would narrowly defeat Rio.

According to Zennie Abraham at City Brights, CNN’s reporting on the crime in Chicago led to them being the first city ousted. If that is the case, the IOC is both blind and stupid. Rio is one of the most dangerous cities in the world. 2,069 murders were committed there last year, compared with just a little over 500 in Chicago. According to the UN, the police commit over 20% of the murders there. Hundreds of shantytowns circle Rio, each inhabited by dozens of gangs vying for control. These gangs often venture into the city to steal money from tourists or citizens. One of the more common forms is a “flash kidnapping” where these gang members will force people to withdraw money from an ATM for them. With Rio already hosting the World Cup, an Olympics there is nearly unprecedented. However, since there will undoubtedly be crime at the World Cup, the Olympic Committee has a chance to learn from their mistakes.

Rather than this being about Chicago’s crime, this is likely a slap in the face of the USOC. The USOC and IOC have had conflicts in the past, most notably over revenues. The USOC receives roughly 13% of US TV rights and 20% of marketing revenues. The IOC has talked about reducing these numbers, but of course the USOC is not interested. Nor should it be. The United States makes the Olympics go round. Without NBC or some other major network broadcasting the games, the Olympics will be a non-entity in the United States, and that will kill them around the world. Los Angeles saved the Olympics in 1984, and the US will likely have to step in to save them again in 2020.