Mori wrote:What are the negative points of winning the bid ..can anyone elaborate on this negativity?
The following is essentially the same as I posted on Jan 22nd:
One must bear in mind that the estimated costs of these sporting ventures are very frequently a lot more than first estimated. Just last year Vancouver was informed that the costs of hosting the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, has skyrocketed to three times the original cost, and still spiraling upwards. We in Canada remember well the cost of the 1976 Olympics in Montreal --we're still paying for them!
While I'm very much an advocate of sports for young people, and appreciate the interest these Games would generate among Scotland's athletes, I'd encurage sport only as a means of recreation. These days I find myself somewhat disenchanted with the direction international sport seems to be going. The joy of competing appears to matter very little now; one must, it seems, win at all costs, and amateurism is but a fond memory. This 'at all costs' of course, leads to lots of underhanded behavior among both judges and competitors. The ultimate aim no doubt, is to make money from participating in international meets.
We see so many well-known athletes who owe their wealth to international competition, and the desire to join their ranks is a powerful incentive to take drugs and cheat. (Glasgow is not without examples of its star athletes making use of illicit drugs to enhance their chances of winning). The most recent revelation in Canada is the "oxygen tent"-caper currently being defended by more than one Canadian medal winner, as a clean and legitimate competition preparation... as long as one has the $1500 required to buy such an aid. Not different at all from the 'blood-saving' gimmick used successfully by the Yanks in the 1984 Olympics..
What has all this to do with Glasgow hosting the 2014 Games? Well, one can view these games as another opportunity for international competition to foster the growth of drugs and cheating. If only we could return to the happy truly-amateur sport days: the days when finishing second was just as commendable as finishing first, and not, as has now become fashionable to be looked upon, as 'first of the losers' ! Yes, okay, I'm probably dreaming a dream that won't ever materialize.