7.8 Critical writing 305
DOC 3
Hello, I found your site very informative. I was wondering if you could tell me how a city is chosen to host
the Olympics? Thanx so much. Sarah, New York
Response: Cities (not countries) are chosen by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to host the
Olympic Games. There is a formal procedure that must be followed by all the cities desiring to host the
Games. This process is called the ‘bid’. Cities bid to host the Games. Usually a city will form a committee
or a commission to prepare the bid. The bid is like a book that gives details such as sports facilities, hotels
and restaurants available, transport network, and many other aspects of holding such a large function as
the Olympic Games. The bid must answer questions like ‘Where would the 10,000 athletes stay?’ ‘What
sports facilities exist now, and what would have to be built?’ ‘What public transport exists and could it
handle huge crowds for all the sports?’ ‘Who would finance the cost of the Games?’ Hundreds of other
questions need to be answered. The ‘bid book’ is then submitted to the IOC for review. It used to be that
the entire IOC would visit all the cities that submitted bids. Six years prior to the Olympic Games in
question, the IOC schedules a meeting and votes for a host city.
However, a problem has come up in this bid procedure – corruption. Salt Lake City, the host of the Winter
Olympic Games in 2002, apparently earned some votes through bribing members of the IOC. The IOC has
always had a very good reputation for honesty and character, but this reputation was tarnished through the
bribery scandal. The IOC investigated its members and kicked some of them out. Others were warned. Then
they changed their procedure. Now only a small group of the IOC (there are over 100 members) visits each
candidate city, along with selected international experts and athletes, and they report back to the rest of
the membership.
Are the Winter Olympics the same as the Summer Olympics? Christos, Melbourne, Australia
Response: They are in a different time and place. Obviously they have to be somewhere with snow. And
there were no ancient winter Olympics either, because the Greeks hadn’t invented skiing! Otherwise, yes,
the same rules and procedures apply for choosing a venue for the Winter Games.
What do the Olympic rings mean and where did they come from? Ariel, Santiago, Chile
Response: The Olympic rings were designed by Pierre de Coubertin around 1913. Contrary to popular
belief, the Olympic rings never existed in ancient Greece. This myth was created by an error published in a
popular book about the ancient Olympic Games in the 1960s. The authors did not know what they were
looking at and concluded (wrongly) that the Olympic rings were 3000 years old. In Greece, inside the
ancient stadium at Delphi, there was a stone engraved (actually not engraved, but in relief) with the five
Olympic rings. This stone was actually created by German stonemasons in 1936 for Leni Riefenstahl’s film
Olympia. Many authors have perpetuated this myth by including this information in their ancient Olympic
chapters. But it’s wrong! Just goes to show that not all historians know what they are talking about.
The Olympic rings designed by Pierre de Coubertin actually represented the first five Olympic Games
(1896, 1900, 1904, 1908, 1912) when they were first used in 1913. Later they came to represent five
continents. The three rings on the top row are blue, black and red with the two rings in the lower row yellow
and green. When all are connected, the order of colours is: blue, yellow, black, green, red.