I think its great that the IOC has supported Japan in their bid for these games, I'm sure it will be a truly memorable event.
It clearly shows how they deal with their disasters and move forwards.

I was going to joke about this being a conspiracy thread but apparently I don't have to.

Where's the conspiracy ?, I just think that the IOC giving Tokyo the Olympics fully represents healthy sport winning againts the odds.

We should celebrate the victory of sport over money.
Especially as bribery has been such an issue in the past.

You must be paranoid (or a conspiracy theorist) to see anything else in my post.

Quote from KiRmelius :

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/u ... e-professor-wants-2259906

I'm for it I'd watch

Madrid would've been a better choice considering their financial problems it would've helped the region massively.

But sadly they had spent the extra 100 million they needed to complete the deal on Gareth trollolol

... or it would've put the country to even worse shape, since they would've need money for the infrastructure needed for hosting the event. But it's a point that it would've brought job for many spaniards. But still Tokyo was the best choice to host the event

They should have the Winter Olympics in the tropics.... to make it more challenging.

Quote from Racer Y :

They should have the Winter Olympics in the tropics.... to make it more challenging.

Or the Summer World Cup in a place where it's 50 degrees every day. Oh wait hang on a second......

Quote from Stig209 :

... or it would've put the country to even worse shape, since they would've need money for the infrastructure needed for hosting the event. But it's a point that it would've brought job for many spaniards.

but for how long? The last thing Spain needs atm is building even more infrastructure. Not that it ends up like the Olympic park in Athens, which is more or less in ruins and abandoned nowadays.

well infrastructure was wrong word since I couldn't find out the word I was looking for... but What u said about Athens Olympic Park is just what I ment

In order to secure the 2020 Tokyo Olympics for Tokyo, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe assured the IOC that the Fukushima situation was “under control”, per AFP:

“Let me assure you the situation is under control,” [Abe] said.

“It has never done or will do any damage to Tokyo.”

Abe replied decisively when pressed by veteran Norwegian IOC member Gerhard Heiberg over Fukushima.

“You should read past the headlines and look at the facts,” he said.

“The contaminated water has been contained in an area of the harbour only 0.3 square kilometres big.

“There have been no health problems and nor will there be. I will be taking responsibility for all the programmes with regard to the plant and the leaks.”

It looks like the key point, to paraphrase Bill Clinton is “what your definition of ‘situation’ is”.

If the “situation” is currently officially stated radiological hazards to Tokyo and Olympic participants thanks to Fukushima, the answer is a qualified “yes”.

That is, if the Japanese government continues to give public credence to rather unfounded Tepco optimism that the Fukushima cluster**** will simply maintain the current trend of dumping radioactive water into the ocean and the main danger to denizens of Tokyo involves getting radioactive sushi from some tuna caught out in the Pacific.

After Shinzo Abe came home from scoring the Olympics, he announced that the Japanese government would participate more actively in the faltering Tepco effort.

At the same time, Abe took pains not to stint on the denialist BS that underpinned the Olympics bid, as if the main problem was not hundreds of tons of sizzling fuel rods and thousands of gallons of radioactive water, but “rumours”:
http://www.counterpunch.org/20 ... ts-way-into-the-olympics/

But, Nothing to see here, move along.....

This is the official response to Fukushima, it's all perfectly 'safe', as 'safe' is only a perception based on your beliefs.
http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/node/2162
http://www.reuters.com/article ... nks-idUSBRE98301020130904
http://www.theguardian.com/env ... ation-levels-higher-japan
Read this at least;
http://www.zerohedge.com/artic ... e-allowed-nuclear-workers
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23776345

M V Ramana ([email protected]) is at the Nuclear Futures Laboratory & Program on Science and Global Security, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, the US.
http://www.epw.in/postscript/2 ... -fukushima-and-trust.html

For those of you who claim I don't bring a rational, educated, scientific opinion to the discussion.

For those of us who are antinuclear, read between the lines, in this case it won't take much !

Important point, this report is from someone who works in the nuclear industry, in my opinion he's completely understating, underestimating, and missing how dangerous the situation really is.
So, whilst I think he's wrong, it is an alternate point of view, from one of the supporters of nuclear power, that clearly states whats going on.
Fair reporting and all !
Even this is frightening enough.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?f ... e&v=1LVOPSgR1Xk#t=311

For some reason, I'm yet to hear any of the 'Nuclear Power is safe, there will never be an accident' people comment on this thread.

So, as the IOC are easily brought off, no one has commented on this well buried story, here's the following from Canadian researchers......
http://www.straight.com/life/4 ... e-japans-claims-fukushima
And an interesting point is " Despite concerns by a variety of experts no effort is underway to screen seafood for strontium or plutonium. "

Nor is this ever mentioned publicly, although, for some interesting reason, you need to pay to get access to this study.

Or this BBC article, that at least is available for free.

This is from the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. Possibly a group that, unlike me, believes Nuclear power is safe.

"Much more serious is the danger that the spent fuel rod pool at the top of the nuclear plant number four will collapse in a storm or an earthquake, or in a failed attempt to carefully remove each of the 1,535 rods and safely transport them to the common storage pool 50 meters away. Conditions in the unit 4 pool, 100 feet from the ground, are perilous, and if any two of the rods touch it could cause a nuclear reaction that would be uncontrollable. The radiation emitted from all these rods, if they are not continually cool and kept separate, would require the evacuation of surrounding areas including Tokyo. Because of the radiation at the site the 6,375 rods in the common storage pool could not be continuously cooled; they would fission and all of humanity will be threatened, for thousands of years."
Source: Bulletin of Atomic Scientists (via Huffington Post)
Author: Charles Perrow, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Yale University
Date: Sept 20, 2013

Olympics.... Think I'll watch the X games instead. They Totally blow off surfing and skateboarding, yet seeing how far some fat chick can sling a hammer is OK? Man, that sounds like what some of the drunks at the bars I've been to done in the parking lot.

Nuclear power is awesome!


Err, what does this have to do with Olympic Games?

Quote from Racer Y :

Olympics.... Think I'll watch the X games instead. They Totally blow off surfing and skateboarding, yet seeing how far some fat chick can sling a hammer is OK? Man, that sounds like what some of the drunks at the bars I've been to done in the parking lot.

Just asking: wouldn't the swimming, gymnastics and skating make up the "fat chick" slinging a hammer?

Quote from KiRmelius :

Nuclear power is awesome!
Err, what does this have to do with Olympic Games?

And whoosh.........
In your case, I'm not sure if even the lights are on.

And now they've finally excluded the drug cheats you actually see women competing in shot put, rather than gender unclear East Europeans.

Quote from TFalke55 :

Just asking: wouldn't the swimming, gymnastics and skating make up the "fat chick" slinging a hammer?

Actually, my biggest complaint about the Olympics isn't really the events. They, especially the summer Olympics, has all sorts of cool events. My real problem is what the TV networks decide to showcase in their broadcasts.
Here in the States, you never see Fencing or Tia Kwan Do or LOL even the fat chicks throwing hammers. Just Track and field, swimming and gymnastics. every four years. The Winter Olympics are worse. Figure skating figure skating figure skating. Yeah, they do show Snowboarding now. One It's the only snow-based sport the US can win at. and two, It's about the only thing people want to see when they watch the Winter olympics.

Things they could put in the Summer Olympics.
MMA. I prefer Boxing, but MMA is very popular.
Skateboarding. Why hasn't this been an event already?
Bullriding/saddle bronc busting. If you want a equestrian sports, make it extreme.
Dodgeball. LOL I imagine certain countries would have to be watched really close when they played each other.
And the Sport that REALLY needs in? Why Auto Racing, of course!

They do show some odd events during the off hour time slots, but they pick one event and stick with it for the whole Olympics. Best example I can think of was curling in Vancouver or Badminton in Beijing. Curling was on shown live for 2-3 hours a day in the afternoon for the entirety of the games, Badminton had the same thing on tape delay.