The IOC Demands That Helped Push Norway Out of Winter Olympic Bidding Are Hilarious

[n2doc]

By Ben Mathis-Lilley
Oslo is dropping out of bidding for the 2022 Winter Olympics, leaving Almaty, Kazakhstan and Beijing as the only remaining cities seeking to host the event. Why? One reason is that people are starting to realize that spending mega-money to build sporting venues that may not ever be used again doesn't make economic sense. Another is that the International Olympic Committee is a notoriously ridiculous organization run by grifters and hereditary aristocrats. Norwegian citizens were particularly amused/outraged (amuseraged) by the IOC's diva-like demands for luxury treatment during the hypothetical Games. Here's a piece in the Norwegian media about the controversy, with translation provided by a generous Norwegian reader named Mats Silberg:

They demand to meet the king prior to the opening ceremony. Afterwards, there shall be a cocktail reception. Drinks shall be paid for by the Royal Palace or the local organizing committee.
Separate lanes should be created on all roads where IOC members will travel, which are not to be used by regular people or public transportation.
A welcome greeting from the local Olympic boss and the hotel manager should be presented in IOC members' rooms, along with fruit and cakes of the season. (Seasonal fruit in Oslo in February is a challenge ...)
The hotel bar at their hotel should extend its hours “extra late” and the minibars must stock Coke products.
The IOC president shall be welcomed ceremoniously on the runway when he arrives.
The IOC members should have separate entrances and exits to and from the airport.
During the opening and closing ceremonies a fully stocked bar shall be available. During competition days, wine and beer will do at the stadium lounge.
IOC members shall be greeted with a smile when arriving at their hotel.
Meeting rooms shall be kept at exactly 20 degrees Celsius at all times.
The hot food offered in the lounges at venues should be replaced at regular intervals, as IOC members might “risk” having to eat several meals at the same lounge during the Olympics.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2014/10/02/ioc_demands_oslo_drops_bid_after_over_the_top_list_of_requirements.html

[malaise]

1. Andrew Jennings wrote two great books about these scumbags

The IOC actually had one banned for a while - Lords of the Rings.
The other one is New Lords of the Rings. Everyone should read them.

Why anyone wants to host an international sporting event in these times suggest that the 1% make a lot of money but all countries lose and big time.

[daleanime]

27. More for my reading list....

[sharp_stick]

2. I had no idea that

Mariah Carey was running the IOC.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/file/mariah-carey-10-rider?page=1

Good for Oslo, it's time the IOC learned a little humility.

See you in Kazakhstan, there will be plenty of sexytime and singalongs of "Throw the Jew Down the Well" for everybody.

[hifiguy]

23. Borat should run the IOC.

He couldn't possibly be any more inept and corrupt than the shitbags in charge now. And the jokes would be a lot better.

[malaise]

32. The list is modest these days

It used to include a plethora of bribes, gifts, scholarships and prostitutes male and female.

Check out how Rmoney rose to fame after the scandal associated with the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. There was one Caribbean NOC President whose daughter won a full scholarship to Brigham Young (all for that host city vote).

Listen folks global sport is the place to make money - unaccountable, greedy and 'mostly legal' because you can't take some of the International Federations to court.

[AngryAmish]

24. In my country there is problem....

[MineralMan]

3. Pampered, self-important assholes, it seems.

Not unexpected.

[malaise]

4. Meet the IOC, Ideal Candidates for a Perp Walk

http://www.thenation.com/article/178049/meet-ioc-ideal-candidates-perp-walk
<snip>
Remember that publicity shot from the Usual Suspects with Kevin Spacey in the lineup? The photo above is an update, snapped late last year in the boardroom of the International Olympic Committee, in a marble palace on the banks of Lake Geneva. This lineup has thirteen men, most past middle age, in business suits and ties, and two women—the big cheeses expecting the best seats in Sochi. Dead center is the new IOC president, Germany’s Thomas Bach. We’ll come back to him, but for now, know that Bach, 60, was a protégé of Horst Dassler, the German businessman who bribed more sports officials than most of us ever heard of. Dassler’s family owned Adidas and a marketing company that laid out $100 million in kickbacks to acquire TV and marketing rights to the soccer World Cup, the world track and field championships—and the Olympics.

At Bach’s right shoulder is the Swiss boss of world soccer, Sepp Blatter. For decades, Blatter didn’t notice hefty bribes being trousered by his colleagues in return for giving World Cup contracts to Dassler companies. Accused of handling a $1 million bribe intended for Joao Havelange, former president of FIFA (the international soccer federation) and doyen of the IOC, Blatter hired investigators who reported that there was a misunderstanding and that he was no more than “clumsy.”

Havelange resigned in disgrace from the IOC in December 2011. Blatter survived—despite losing eight of FIFA’s twenty-three executive committee members to scandals in the past three years. An FBI-organized crime squad, now digging into FIFA’s embedded corruption, has a cooperating witness in Miami and probably another in New York. Blatter, scheduled to be played by Tim Roth on the big screen later this year, might not make it to Sochi.

At Bach’s other shoulder is Lamine Diack from Senegal, president of the IAAF (the International Association of Athletics Federations) and also on the Dassler gift list. I disclosed these bribes for the BBC program Panorama in 2010, and a year later the IOC rebuked Diack. But the Lords of Lausanne forgive and forget, so he’s back at the heart of Olympic idealism.

Lots more at link

[Lifelong Protester]

14. Wow! That article is amazing.

I feel bad for athletes who feel the Olympics is the epitome of sport.

[malaise]

29. Andrew has a great website

http://www.transparencyinsport.org/

The drugs, gambling, cheating, real violence on and off the field of play, fights over sponsors, broadcast rights holders, etc are enough to make us all cry or puke.

[Lifelong Protester]

30. Thanks for the links.

I always wanted to support the athletes, but felt the money spent on these things could be better used elsewhere. Sounds like the IOC could compete with the mob.

[malaise]

39. Tut tut

The mob are mere amateurs - these guys are the real pros

[Lifelong Protester]

46. Too true!

[Blue_Tires]

15. I'm glad someone has finally said "enough"

Needed to be done a long time ago...Instead, for years host cities bent over backward to cater to their every whim

[oldandhappy]

5. Hilarious, had no idea.

What pampered spoiled babies they are. Well, when the price is no longer acceptable ---

The IOC needs to be thinking about where to have an Olympics that will help their reputation, not the reverse.

Putin being a big show off and then invading Ukraine has been a turn off for me.

Dear OIC -- the Olympics is about sport -- not mini bars!!!

[FrodosPet]

36. The Norwegian counter-offer

Free Oslo Passes, all-you-can-eat syltelabb, and half off on Akevitt shots or pitchers of Ringnes.

[Retrograde]

37. Sounds good to me!

Now if they'll throw in my airfare and hotel I'll be happy to award Oslo the RetrOlympics!

[Marrah_G]

6. wow

[Johonny]

7. Remember Mitt Romney fit right in with these guys

and likes to brag about it!

[MoonRiver]

8. My demand would be that Norway stop whaling, short and sweet. eom

[catbyte]

45. Amen to that.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

9. Sounds like the ridiculous demands of some singers and rock bands.

Like Van Halen wanting M&Ms with all the brown ones removed. But these a-holes want entire lanes of streets reserved for them? And they demand that the King greet them and have parties for them? It's usually kings that get to make those demands. In Norway the King is only a titular figure with little actual power, but still. If I were the King of Norway I'd greet them in my fanciest king outfit and tell them to kiss my ring, or something else. But it sounds like Norway has more or less done that anyhow. Sensible folks, the Norwegians.

[Jerry442]

10. The IOC realized that the Norway negotiations had gone south when...

...the Norwegians told them the only seasonal fruit in February was dingleberries.

[waddirum]

26. The King could say,

"I handpicked them myself".

[Gore1FL]

11. The M&Ms for Van Halen actually made sense when it was explained.

Thy did that as a quick check to see if their other instructions (including safety concerns) we read and followed. If they saw brown M&Ms, they knew that it was likely other things were ignored too.

The IOC list is simply embarrassing.

[Logical]

21. Van Halen sounds idiotic also.....

Maybe the host decided to double the focus on safety and not M&Ms.

[Gore1FL]

33. They should fulfil all points of the contract. n/t

[hifiguy]

22. This is true.

It was like a copyright trap on a map. Just there to see who's paying attention. Funny, too.

[Are_grits_groceries]

12. They can't get anybody but China and Kazakhstan to bid.

The cost is so excessive and the process is so corrupt that nobody wants to deal with them.

They treated Chicago's bid for the Summer Olympics like a joke. The IOC mishandled that so badly that they pissed off everybody with a connection to the US Olympic Committee and Chicago. It was not a good idea to treat the US like that. They don't have to select a US city but pissing off America isn't smart.

The only group more corrupt than the IOC is FIFA. Until Sepp Blatter and his cronies are gone, world soccer will not be what it could be.

[malaise]

40. I don't see the US winning any more bids for global sports

competition - they will never defer to the security apparatus of the IOC or any of the Federations - and I would agree with them on this one.

[IDemo]

13. They should meet those demands, except

Keep meeting rooms at 20 degrees Fahrenheit.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

16. "Oh, so sorry, we didn't think you meant 20 degrees C."

"Our bad. Heh."

I can imagine the meeting where they first saw these demands. I wonder how you say "You've got to be fucking kidding me!" in Norwegian?

[LawDeeDah]

18. Har du må være jævla tuller.

https://translate.google.ca/#en/no/You%27ve%20gotta%20be%20fucking%20kidding%20me.

[KitSileya]

28. Google translate is not optimal for anything but words

...as I tell my Norwegian students often.

Try "Du må faen ta meg kødde, asså!", pardon my French.

[LawDeeDah]

17. I love Norway! And Iceland

they know their shit and take no shit.

What a bunch of brattish assholes those Olympic people are. What a scam that whole scam is.

[MoonRiver]

31. Both countries need to stop murdering whales.

They are both SHIT to me until they do that.

[Callmecrazy]

34. Please stay on topic.

And keep the save the whales stuff for your own thread.
Thank you.

[MoonRiver]

35. Being a dedicated advocate for whales and dolphins I will take any opportunity

to reveal the truth. But thanks for that sweet smilie

[LawDeeDah]

43. I love cows.

Somehow the Olympics don't remind me of cows, unless Gary Larson did some awesome cartoon about that.

Oh, Lookie:

[raven mad]

47. LOL! Not cows in Norway -

these guys............ courtesy of Mr. Larson.

[malaise]

41. That's not true

Norway took a lot of shit in 1994 at Lillehammer. They learned from that, Nagano and Salt Lake City. Andrew Jennings exposed everything related to them.

[LawDeeDah]

42. Ah, but they learned the lesson.

Besides, Norway is one of the best countries to live in if you look for social justice and being your brothers and sisters keepers. the taxes are pretty high and the weather isn't balmy, but if you want a real civilized country, Norway is on the top of the list.

As for Iceland, they gave the IMF the big finger when it came to 'restructuring' and 'austerity' measures the imf are so famous for. Iceland dealt with their problems their own way and won.

[malaise]

44. The Scandinavian countries are the best places to live on

the planet. One of my siblings lives in Denmark - and it is lovely in every sense of the word.

[JI7]

20. YUK, and good for norway for rejecting that shit

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

25. Indeed.

[hifiguy]

38. The King should have locked the IOC goons in a room

with nothing but lutefisk, cabbage, broccoli and beans to eat until they stopped acting like such spoiled little oiks.

[davidpdx]

48. The Olympic Committee are a bunch of greedy corrupt bastards

I've love to see their asses thrown in jail. Neither Beijing or Kazakhstan are halfway decent choices to host. What should happen is the current members should be shit canned and then a new committee should look at the recent previous hosts over the last dozen years to host again. That would throw both Salt Lake City and Vancouver in the mix.