the Winter Olympics should always be held in some idyllic alpine village...

[bavaria]

This happens with the summer olympics too. Usually they have the rowing and kayaking type events at locations distant from the the host city.

Equestrian events were held in Hong Kong, not Beijing, for instance, which is almost 2,000 km away.

 

[Jennasis]

Equestrian events were held in Hong Kong, not Beijing, for instance, which is almost 2,000 km away.

Quarantine laws made holding the event in Beijing very difficult, so they moved it to Hong Kong.

 

[bumbershoot]

Have you ever even been to Vancouver/Whistler? Beautiful. Perfect for the winter olympics. So i'm guessing you never have been. Winter this year VERY uncommon for BC.

Wanted to say that last night. Couldn't figure out how to say it. Thank you.

Vancouver is not your normal big city...

I totally understand the need/desire to have the Olympics all over the world, but it must be so expensive to build stadiums and such for each Olympics. Have any cities hosted twice and been able to use what they built for the first Olympics on the second time around?

Did Vancouver have to built much in the way of permanent buildings? I know that Beijing built things they didn't have before (and I read in a trip report that the Cube and "birdsnest" are already falling apart), but I didn't think Vancouver did...

 

[Cherbear013]

I think the Olympics are about not only showcasing the athletes but different parts of the world. How often do Americans get to see Sydney or Sochi?