Hey, what's new? Another Olympics another overspend! This time it was Singapore's Youth Olympics. S$107 million ($80 million) ballooned to S$387 million.

After the meal comes the burp! The most senior African member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Nawal El Moutawakel delivered the discordant verdict on South Africa's chances of hosting the Olympic Games saying "There is a huge amount of work to be done besides political desire, hence the experts' view that any realistic chance for [hosting the] Olympics in Africa is between 2030 and 2040".

The 720,000 people evicted from cheap housing for the 1988 Seoul Olympics seem long ago and far away. However the evictions are remembered for their scale and brutality.

One of the first things Barack Obama did after the presidential election was to make a pitch to the European Olympic Committee for Chicago’s 2016 Olympic Bid.

Chicago is up against Tokyo, Madrid and Rio. The winner gets announced in October. While hosting the Olympics would present opportunities, it would also present challenges.

Olympic loan scandal deepens
Vancouver mayoral candidate Peter Ladner prepared to lose election over secret $100M loan

By Christina Montgomery, The Province
Published: Saturday, November 08, 2008 (www.theprovince.com)

The [1968] Games was awarded to Mexico but, due to financial constraints and the general condition of the country’s economy, a much less ambitious approach was taken. Existing facilities were utilized and, because they were scattered in various parts of the city, the public transport system was placed under tremendous strain. The main investment was in the Olympic Village consisting of 24 purpose-built, multi-storey buildings.

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With a brash young lawyer-lawmaker named Dick Lamm leading the way, residents said they didn't want the 1976 Winter Olympics. And they said it in a big way. The landmark vote on Nov. 7, 1972, wasn't even close -- 514,228 to 350,964. A 59.4 percent majority said they weren't willing to spend tax dollars to have the Games in their state.