Video tour of the Vancouver 2010 Athletes Village

*Previously: Shaq vs Michael Phelps

Chicago sets sights on next cut for 2016 Olympics

On the eve of the IOC announcement of the shortlist of bidding cities for the 2016 Summer Games a number of articles have hit the web boasting of Chicago's prospects.

ESPN says, "Chicago officials confident city will make next cut in bid for 2016 Olympics."

GamesBids has an update with the following results, "BidIndex shows Chicago (60.73, up 0.17) narrowly ahead of Tokyo (60.66, up 0.25) to lead the applicants; former front runner Rio de Janeiro (59.90, down 0.92) has dropped to third and Madrid (59.50, up 1.25) stays in fourth while narrowing the gap and boasting the largest increase." I would love to see either Tokyo or Chicago win so this is good news for me.

Above I have embedded a Venue Flyover video from the Chicago Bidding Committee.

From ESPN & GamesBids

A look at the venues planned for the London 2012 Olympics

I have heard that London 2012 is aiming to be the "greenest" games to date. I hope they can reach their goal. Above is a look at the planned layout of their venues for 2012. It'll be interesting to look back on this image in a few years and see how much of it was actually realized and how much changed.

Here is some info on the site from the wikipedia:

The 2012 Olympics will use a mixture of newly built venues, existing facilities, and temporary facilities, some of them in well known locations such as Hyde Park and Horse Guards Parade. In the wake of the problems that plagued the Millennium Dome, the intention is that there will be no white elephants after the games. Some of the new facilities will be reused in their Olympic form, while others will be reduced in size and several will be relocated elsewhere in the UK. The plans will contribute to the regeneration of Stratford in east London which will be the site of the Olympic Park, and of the neighbouring Lower Lea Valley.

However this will require the compulsory purchase of some business properties, which would be demolished to make way for Olympic venues and infrastructure improvements. This has caused controversy, with some of the effected proprietors claiming that the compensation offered is inadequate. In addition, concerns about the development's potential impact on the future of the century-old Manor Garden Allotments have inspired a community campaign.

The majority of venues have been divided into three zones within Greater London: the Olympic Zone, the River Zone and the Central Zone. In addition to these are those venues that, by necessity, are outside the boundaries of Greater London.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) noted that future negotiations were necessary to ensure the use of the Old Trafford and Villa Park football stadiums. The need for compulsory purchase orders was also highlighted as a possible problem for the Olympic Park, but did not expect this to cause any "undue delay to construction schedules".