# Which is the readiest European city to host Summer Olympics for the first time?



## eastman (Feb 16, 2005)

I see nice developments in terms of sporting venues in many European cities. Which one do you think would be able to host Olympics tomorrow with success if the chance had been given today?


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## CharlieP (Sep 12, 2002)

eastman said:


> I see nice developments in terms of sporting venues in many European cities. Which one do you think would be able to host Olympics tomorrow with success if the chance had been given today?


None - it takes years of preparation to host a Summer Olympics, no matter how many stadia and arenas you already have.


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## Marbur66 (Mar 1, 2009)

CharlieP said:


> *None - it takes years of preparation to host a Summer Olympics,* no matter how many stadia and arenas you already have.


Very true.


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## Jim856796 (Jun 1, 2006)

The period of time between an election of a host city and the city's hosting of the Summer Olympics takes 7 years. The Summer Olympic host cities from 1972 and 1992 had six and the host cities for the 1964 and 1968 Summer Olympics had 5.


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## miguelon (Oct 25, 2006)

At this very moments, well London LOL, they have almost all the venues ready, but lets say excluding London.

In the first tier i'll put Barcelona because of its relatively recent games, has a big athletics stadium, and some arenas ready, plus a good hotel and transportation infrastructure already in place, lets say that with some 3-6 months notice they can pull some light version of the games.... and maybe Berlin and Munich have the muscle to do it.

Athens should be in the same situation than Barcelona, but even when they had 7 years to be ready they were having some issues (don't get me wrong Athens 2004 games were fantastic)

Other than that most cities will need to build a athletics specific stadium with 70,000 plus capacity that by itself will require some 3 years to get,,,, 

Kiev has an athletics stadium ready to host the games, but the reset of the city won't be able...


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## Riise (Nov 12, 2006)

Yeah, I'd hope it would be London.


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## Rev Stickleback (Jun 23, 2009)

Riise said:


> Yeah, I'd hope it would be London.


It's hardly be _for the first time_ though, having hosted twice before.


Given the football can be held across the country, what stadiums - besides the obvious large athletics stadiums - would be required?

You need a tennis stadium, a velodrome, an indoor arena, a swimming complex... what else (allowing for a fair degree of leeway, clearly)?


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## Jim856796 (Jun 1, 2006)

Aside from any stadiums and arenas, purpose-built facilities for certain Olympic sports (like swimming, cycling, and equestrian) may possibly be difficult for a city to maintain indefinitely.


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## Knitemplar (Aug 16, 2008)

One answer: SARAJEVO!!


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## Don Homer (Jan 23, 2012)

I think about Berlin. Germany has a great tradition in almost all the sport disciplines; their venues (football stadiums, swimming pools, arenas for basketball, volleyball, handball...) are among the best in Europe.
Berlin already has an olympic stadium recently renovated with over 70.000 places, an O2 arena which can host 14.000 people, another arena a little smaller, a modern cycling velodrome, and many stadiums for football and other outdoor sport. Perhaps, the only thing they need is to renovate the olympic swimming pool.


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## LuisClaudio (Sep 13, 2011)

Lisbon.


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## jpfg (May 25, 2008)

LuisClaudio said:


> Lisbon.


x2


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## Timothy83 (Jan 20, 2012)

Given the op asked for cities that haven't hosted it ever, Berlin and London don't count. So Madrid is probably one of the only major cities in Europe not to host the summer olympics, and has bid for the 2020 games anyway (and I'd like Madrid to get it personally, it deserves it). Lisbon and Milan are others than spring to mind.


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## Walbanger (Jan 10, 2006)

Madrid

Istanbul

Glasgow


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## mattec (Aug 2, 2009)

Dublin?


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## Rev Stickleback (Jun 23, 2009)

Rather than just listing names of cities, would it not be worth listing the multiple facilities required in the city that makes it a potential host?


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## Don Homer (Jan 23, 2012)

Istanbul could be a good solution. 
In the last decades, Istanbul has tried once or twice to bid for hosting Olympic Games, but unsuccessfully; however, most facilities are already ready.
Atatürk Olimpiyat Stadi was build just for these bids. Besiktas, Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray as sports club, have their stadiums and arenas that are completely new or renovated; there are a big arena, the Efen Pilsen's one, which can host more than 15.000 people and a rather recent swimming pool complex.
I think that Istanbul misses only a cycling velodrome and a tennis center.


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## Pavlemadrid (Nov 30, 2006)

MADRID.


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## DaveyCakes (Jun 17, 2008)

Its an interesting question. Madrid obviously springs to mind. How about Cologne? With all the surrounding cities, there surely must be a good lot of the infrastructure needed, eg the equestrian centre in Aachen.


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## KingmanIII (Aug 25, 2008)

It'll be either Istanbul or Madrid.


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