Sport

Also-rans to hit Great Wall as Olympic marathon nears end

BEIJING: The lumbering behemoth of the race still out front going into the last

Fri Jul 13 2001 - 01:00

BEIJING: The lumbering behemoth of the race still out front going into the last. It matters not that most of the most of the sites the IOC evaluation committee were shown this spring were just that-sites with people living in various forms of accommodation on them-nobody doubts that it the Games were to be held next spring China possesses the wherewithall to cope.

The question is not over the plans for the Games but the plans for it's people. Will the great marketplace set itself down for a month and then move on or will China move to meet the spirit of the Games?

TORONTO: Excellent bid. Learned well from losing to Atlanta in the 1996 race. Bring advantages of time zone (NBC lost heavily on Sydney) to the table and also a good imaginative environmentally bid spread along the lake front of a city that boasts 177 nationalities in residence already. Uses the lake not just for backdrop but for rowing and triathlon and sailing to produce a surprisingly compact Games. If Toronto loses it will come back very strongly with another bid for 2012.

PARIS: Hit by a little scandal in the run in when bid chair Claude Bebear (founder of Axa insurance) was arrested for tax evasion. Paris has assembled a wonderful bid though utilising it's best assets for a city-centre Games. It has proposed a revitalised stretch between the Stade de France and Montmartre to encompass a Village and a sports park. The main stadium to be a walk from the village. Volleyball under the Eiffel Tower . Tennis at Roland Garros. Ah, if only those Greeks hadn't nabbed 2004.

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ISTANBUL: Bidding yet again (this is the 3rd consecutive doomed attempt) due to a Government law which guarantees the cost of each bid. Still pushing the notion of staging the games where continents meet, but human rights issues and an earthquake have undone much of the progress achieved by a near completed £90 million stadium and an impressive new basketball complex. They'll be back.

OSAKA: Written off by the 14-person IOC evaluation committee earlier this year, the Japanese have stayed in for the ride. Gambled on Beijing not running a campaign and suffers badly from being a low profile city. Propose a games built on man-made islands in Osaka Bay. Sounds novel but we will never see it.