Games of the 30th Olympiad

"The International Olympic Committee has the honor of announcing that the
Games of the 30th Olympiad in 2012 are awarded to the city of London." - IOC president Jacques Rogge

I was disappointed when I heard the news that New York City didn’t get the 2012 Summer Olympics. New York City, like it or not, is the Capital of the World. I know a lot of people just read that line and said to themselves that I am wrong or that I’m biased, but it true – it’s the biggest and most powerful city in the entire world…bar none.

However, I was pretty happy that London was awarded the Olympic Games and not Paris. This is the first time since the 1948 Olympics that London will be the host, after they narrowly defeated Paris 54-50 on the fourth ballot of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) vote. But if we had to lose out to somebody, wouldn’t you rather it be our buddies across the pond?
The first three rounds eliminated the three cities that had small chances of winning with Moscow going out in the first round with just 15 votes. New York was next with only 16 followed by Madrid with 31 votes.

London's victory handed Paris its third loss at hosting the Olympics in 20 years – Losing out on the 1992 and 2008 Olympics. Paris hasn't hosted the games since 1924. Paris did have a perceived advantage because this was the third time they were bidding and especially because IOC has a tendency to reward persistence. Paris also already has an Olympic stadium and welcomed the IOC's blueprint for controlling the size and cost of the games. The massive urban renewal of East London was what London used as a major selling point in its fourth bid from Britain after losing bids by Birmingham for the 1992 Olympics and Manchester in 1996 & 2000.
I’ll say it again, I’m happy for Britain…if it wasn’t NYC it should be them. I just hope that the same terrorists that probably would’ve wanted to make disaster happen in New York will not be successful in London.

The Summer Olympics is and always will be a great month of competition and camaraderie held every four years…I’m sure London will put on a good show.