At the announcement of the defeat of Annecy's bid to host the 2018 Olympic Games, over 300 anti-JO activists uncorked the champagne out on the mountain meadow. A victory that rewarded two and a half years of struggle.

With only seven votes of IOC members from 95 is a real slap in the face which was announced on July 6, 2011 for the bid of Annecy 2018. Since 1988, only Osaka was "better" with 6 votes for the 2008 Olympics. For Métral Guy, president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Haute-Savoie, "the defeat of Annecy is a blow" . Charles Beigbeder, chairman of the Annecy 2018 bid, said he was "extremely disappointed". For Chantal Jouanno, Minister for Sport, "it's hard to take for French sport, because our sport does not deserve this" . For Guy Drut, a member of the French bid, "it's a very, very cold shower " . France tonight and JDD pronounced it "a fiasco" . Over 300 anti-JO present were out on the meadow uncorking the champagne and celebrating.

Cuisante défaite d'Annecy 2018 : les anti-JO exultent ! from La Voix des Allobroges on Vimeo.

Where were they when it mattered? NoGamesChicago has a couple of neat little stories about those who become wise after the event. First, there was the American Planning Association whose magazine, in February 2010, discovered “Unfortunately, hosting the Games gets no medals as an urban development strategy. Host efforts tend to be over promised and underfunded, and seldom achieve the goals local organizers set out.”

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)